Spotlight
by Tiggerz16
Summary: Axel is a normal guy who works at an eccentric little bakery. Roxas is a boy who's been thrust into the spotlight against his will. And fate? Well, sometimes it sneaks up when you least expect it.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

I was content to sit behind the counter, leaning back in my stool and absentmindedly flipping through a magazine I'd taken from the shelf on the opposite side of the room not even five minutes earlier. I was perfectly content to pick at a cupcake with bright yellow frosting I'd never bother to pay for as I propped my big, black combat boots up on top of that very same counter, much to the protests of the blonde standing next to me. I didn't particularly care about his rambling, or much at all, for that matter. As long as I was satisfied, then nothing else mattered.

It probably wasn't the greatest outlook to have, but it was the only way I knew how to feel, to survive. You see, when your parents, the people who are supposed to look out for you, are too busy fighting and tearing each other down to pay attention, you kinda have to learn to take care of yourself. And that was my childhood in a nutshell.

When my parents weren't busy hurling insults across the living room or breaking dishes in the kitchen, they weren't around at all. My mother worked two jobs to support our family, only it was more to support her drinking habit and my father's love of gambling. My father could never hold down a steady job but always managed to make it to the race track in time to lose everything on a 'sure bet'. It was a never-ending cycle that always set the tables for another argument that would send me to my room, desperately searching for a way to block it all out. But I discovered that even with my headphones securely over my ears and the music helping to drown out the rising war, nothing could stop the tears from falling. Nothing could erase the images from my mind.

I think it goes without saying that I grew up pretty fast. Didn't have much of a choice, really. By ten years old, I was making myself dinner almost nightly, and soon I was doing my own laundry, packing my own lunches and tucking myself into bed at night.

Seeing as any extra money in my house went towards another pack of smokes or a case of beer that wouldn't last the week, I learned to live with very little. Necessary things like new clothes and shoes were almost always forgotten, and when I was fourteen, I decided to do something about it by applying for work at the local Fresh Market, located just a few blocks away from my house. It was close enough to walk to and from, but also far enough away to make me feel like maybe, just maybe, I'd never go back home.

The market was fairly small, but it was warm and welcoming and more like home than anything I'd ever experienced before. It was there that I met my best friend, Zexion. Zexion was quiet in a way that was totally different from the way I was quiet, like he just didn't want to talk to people instead of not knowing how to. There was something about the way his lavender-colored hair haphazardly covered one side of his face and his apparent inability to smile that drew me to him, so I decided to befriend him. Little did I know that, in the young teenager, I was finding a friend for life.

Working at the Fresh Market taught me a lot about life and people, and, over time, I learned to open up, to let people in, if only just a little. I became quite the social butterfly and never had a problem making friends or acquaintances or coming up with things to say in idle conversations with customers. But there was still a distance between me and the world, a wall of sorts. I never let anyone in too deeply, not even Zexion. For years, he had no idea about my home life because I was almost certain he'd walk away if he did. And I wouldn't have blamed him in the least.

Despite having a new friend and a completely new and different life away from home, I still walked through the door, every evening, to constant bickering and misery. And I would still continue to lock myself in my room and pray to God, or whatever higher power was out there, that it would just end. But it never did.

By the time I turned seventeen, Zexion and I had a plan worked out to perfection. We'd been saving the majority of our paychecks over the past few years, and the minute we turned eighteen, we were getting out of our houses and never looking back. Not if we could help it.

Zexion's home life wasn't as bad as mine, but he knew his parents resented him for being gay, and the sooner he got away from his father's judgmental stares and verging-on-condescending advice, the better. I never said a thing about it, but I was a tiny bit jealous of Zexion. I mean, at least his father cared enough about him to pay attention. If I'd told my father I was gay, he probably would have just ignored me.

The day of my eighteenth birthday, my stuff was already packed in leftover boxes from the market and being loaded into Zexion's old, beat up puck-up truck. I hadn't bothered to give my parents a warning of any kind, but I figured they wouldn't care. I was just one less problem they'd have to pretend to worry about. So, I'd seen it coming – for practically my whole life – but that didn't stop the hurt of hearing my father's disinterested grunt or the lackluster well-wishes my mother gave, as I stood in the doorway with the last box in my arms and told them I was leaving.

It's stupid, but even when Zexion and I were settled in our new apartment and everything was quiet and peaceful and exactly the way it should be, I would still lock my bedroom door at night, slip my headphones on and turn the volume up full blast to block out the shouting that wasn't really there.

A few years later, the Fresh Market closed down, and I felt a little more than lost. The place had served as a sort of safe-haven during my teenage years, and I didn't know what I was going to do without it. Zexion had already moved on. He quit a year prior and was already employed at a smoothie shop that had opened recently.

It was on my way to break the news of my recent unemployment to my friend that a help wanted sign caught my eye. It was sitting in the window of a small bakery next to the Smoothie King. I'd never noticed the place before.

Walking through the front door of the Wonderland Bakery was like walking right into a living fairytale – carefully painted murals on the walls, tables shaped like mushrooms, hanging lamps that resembled vines and flowers of all varieties. Even the floor was made up to look like grass. After the awe of such detailed and amazing decoration wore off, I noticed there was a florist stand to my left, and right next to the huge case of fresh baked goods was a magazine stand and espresso maker.

Almost at once, I was greeted by a grown man with bubble-gum pink hair that flowed past his shoulders. That's the exact moment I knew Wonderland Bakery would be the place for me. During the interview, I came to find out that Bubble Gum Hair was the owner of the establishment, Marluxia. And I wasn't surprised for a second. Pink hair and a Wonderland themed bakery just seemed to go hand in hand.

Luckily, Marluxia wasn't put-off by the fact that I didn't want to wear a uniform, hide my unruly red hair under some gross hairnet, or the fact that I was pretty cocky and demanding for someone who desperately needed a job. In fact, he just smiled and told me he never upheld the rules very strongly, anyway - even his own – and he liked his employees to have a bit of personality, just like his bakery. All he said I had to do was show up the next morning at nine AM sharp and then proceeded to throw a frilly, pink apron at me. Now, I wasn't one to wear pink, and I definitely never, ever wore anything lined in lace, but I figured it was a small price to pay for a relatively easy job that didn't require a lot of actual work and required even less skill.

I arrived the next day, right on time, and was promptly introduced to one of my new co-workers. Except, it was more a complete invasion of my personal space than anything else. As soon as I walked behind the counter and right before I finished tying my apron behind my back, I found myself suddenly staring directly into a pair of blue eyes and felt my hand was being shaken excitedly. The guy in front of me, whose blonde hair was styled into some kind of mullet-mohawk combination, was already rambling on a mile a minute.

All I could do was stand there and blink stupidly. I was used to friendly people, but I wasn't used to people being so spastic and all up in my face in that way. Through the constant babbling, I was able to catch a few important details. His name was Demyx, he was twenty-one, and he'd be working behind the counter with me when he wasn't busy making cakes, pastries and other assorted treats.

Before I had the chance to introduce myself or say anything at all, I was being dragged over to the cash register, where a very annoyed looking blonde woman sat, flipping through a magazine and loudly smacking on a piece of gum. She never did bother to look up, even when Demyx announced our presences and informed her I was fresh meat. I knew right then and there that the girl was a bitch, and I kinda liked it. Eventually, Demyx spoke for her and introduced her as Larxene. She'd been working there since the bakery first opened two years prior.

He then continued to explain how everything came to be. Apparently, Marluxia had been left some money after his grandfather died, and instead of using it towards college like his parents wanted, he opened Wonderland Bakery. The place took two whole years and a lot of work and heart to complete, but after its first year, the place had become a sort of staple in Radiant Garden. I wondered how I'd never even heard of it before.

Over the next three months, I learned to love Wonderland Bakery. It was totally different from the Fresh Market, but it was comfortable just the same, and I found it was pretty easy to enjoy myself when around my co-workers. We were all so totally different, such a mixture of personalities and quirks that it was almost too easy to fit in.

It was the middle of October, which, in Radiant Garden, meant the weather was somewhere in-between being able to wear a t-shirt or having to put on a jacket. It was bizarre, to say the least, but that description fit the city perfectly.

There was always a lull in customers during the mid-afternoon hours. Apparently, not very many people had a craving for sweet rolls or a piece of cherry pie during lunchtime. Not that I was bothered by that. I preferred just sitting on my stool and lounging around to having to deal with a line of customers.

"Get your disgusting feet off of my counter, Axel!" Demyx suddenly threw his entire weight against my legs, almost sending me face first into the glass display case of sweets.

Fortunately, I was able to catch myself before hitting the counter and possibly chipping my beautiful teeth. Or worse, causing any unsightly marks to appear on my face. The only marks I wanted there were the small, black tattoos under each of my eyes. In the process of saving myself from a face full of glass, the magazine and cupcake I'd been holding onto went flying to the floor below.

"Your counter?" Marluxia was behind the florist stand, cutting the stems off of some roses and completely ignoring my near fatal accident. He glanced up for a second, and Demyx rolled his eyes. "I do believe this place belongs to me."

"Yea, yea, yea." Demyx nudged me in the ribs with his elbow and silently pointed to the mess on the ground where the cupcake had fallen. "If this was my place," he turned back to face Marluxia and pulled at the pink apron tied around d his waist, "we wouldn't have to wear these hideous things."

"Amen," Larxene agreed as she blew a particularly large bubble with her gum and tossed the gossip magazine she'd been reading off to the side.

"If you don't like them, then there's a very simple solution to the problem." Marluxia put his freshly cut roses in a vase that was sitting on the counter and smiled at them. My boss, despite being straight as they come, had some rather feminine tendencies. Thankfully, I'd learned how to conceal my amusement in that.

"And what's that?" Larxene asked, not appearing too interested in whatever the answer was going to be.

"Quit," Marluxia said simply, picking up on of the freshly cut stems and pointing it in her direction. "And stop destroying the merchandise, while you're at it. Unless you plan on paying for it."

Larxene scoffed but picked up the discarded magazine, anyway, and straightened it out as best as she could before setting it back on the shelf with the rest.

During their exchange, Demyx had going into the back. I sat back in my stool, content to let the cupcake rot there on the floor, but upon my co-worker's return, I was presented with a broom and dustpan. And I just sat there, staring at the items in Demyx's outstretched arms and blinking. I had absolutely no intentions of moving, and Demyx let out an aggravated sigh.

"Well…" He dramatically gestured to the cupcake. I remained seated, unfazed. "Clean it up!"

When I realized he wasn't going to let go, I groaned and hung my head. "Demyx, my main man. My buddy. My pal," I pleaded and tried to come off as pathetic as possible. It wasn't working as well as I would've liked, if the unfazed expression on Demyx's face was any indication. "Please, can't you do it for me? I mean, you're already up."

"No one likes a lazy slob," Larxene called across the room, and I was just about to give her a pieced of my mind and throw the magazine I'd stolen from the shelf earlier at her annoying face, until I was interrupted by a sudden rush of noise and a million flashing white lights. All heads turned to face the entrance of the bakery as the door opened and the room was filled with ever more commotion than before, voices shouting over one another but all pretty much demanding the same thing.

"Roxas!"

"Where's your brother?"

"Is that your girlfriend, Roxas?"

"Roxas!"

"Roxas!"

A large crowd of men – I counted at least ten, holding cameras – were gathered around a group of kids, who were desperately trying to squeeze their way through and make it into the bakery. One of them, a boy with wavy, dirty blonde hair and cargo pants, was holding the door open for his friends. I shot a curious glance in Demyx's direction, but he just shrugged and focused his attention back on the scene in front of us.

A full two minutes later, the kids were still struggling to make it through, and the men hadn't stopped shouting their questions or taking their damn pictures. By that point, Marluxia had stopped his flower arrangements and made his way towards the door, along with Larxene. I couldn't even pretend like I didn't care about all the chaos because my eyes were glued to everything going on. It wasn't everyday – or ever – that things like that happened at Wonderland Bakery.

Marluxia did his best to grab a hold of the kids and pull them through the massive crowd of paparazzi outside the entrance while Larxene cursed and threatened the men with what she would do to them if they even stepped one toe inside of the bakery.

The second one to make it through the crowd was a short, plump boy with crazy brunette hair that almost stuck straight up. I couldn't figure out what was so special about him or Cargo Pants that had the paparazzi so riled up and desperate to get a picture. I'd heard them calling out for Roxas, so I was busy trying to decide which of the two standing in front of me was the sought after boy.

Finally, the last of the group made their way out of the cluster of flashing cameras and the fat men holding onto them. A short boy with unruly blond hair and a seemingly permanent scowl on his face emerged with a skinny brunette girl, clutching onto his arm for dear life.

"Roxas!"

"Talk to us, Roxas!"

"Tell us how Sor-"

The questions were cut short, and the loud, obnoxious voices were stifled as Larxene slammed the door shut. She proceeded to stick up both of her middle fingers and give the evil eye, before turning back around and walking back to her spot behind the register.

My eyes were instantly drawn to the blonde boy who was the last to enter. He looked so young, not much older than 18, and it was obvious that he was the Roxas the men had been calling out for. I wasn't sure how I knew it because I'd never seen him before in my life, but something about him just radiated importance. My instincts proved to be correct when the boy and the rest of his friends walked up to the pastry counter and Demyx visibly tensed while Marluxia walked over with a grace I'd never seen the man use before.

"Welcome to Wonderland Bakery." Marluxia bent over slightly, almost a bow, and stuck his hand out for Roxas to shake. I tried not to roll my eyes at how stupid he looked.

Roxas didn't respond at first, keeping his hands buried deep in his pockets. After a careful study of my boss, though, he reluctantly took hold of the offered hand and shook it.

Marluxia responded with this way overdone smile that he used with all his customers. "Please, let me know if there's anything you need. Anything at all."

Roxas nodded politely before moving even closer to the counter. The girl, who was previously attached to his arm, finally let go and turned around the talk with the boys behind her. I tuned everything else out and focused my attention on Roxas, who wasn't paying attention to his friends or anything else, for that matter. Except the display of sweets.

Studying him, I got the feeling that Roxas was a little too serious for someone so young. He'd not once smiled since he entered the building, and his face looked too full of worries that had no business being there in the first place. I felt like I could relate, in some small way, so maybe that's why I continued to stare. Maybe that's why I let my mind wander, wondering just what his life was like. I tended to do that when I looked at people, which probably came from years of wishing I was someone else.

Somewhere along the line, I got kinda lost in his big, blue eyes. They were, undoubtedly, the bluest I'd ever seen in my life. Eyes like that didn't deserve to look so unhappy.

"Excuse me."

I was broken out of my thoughts by the voice and immediately realized how stupid I must have looked, just standing there and staring rather intensely at some random stranger. After clearing my throat, I opened my mouth to speak, but I never got the chance. Demyx had taken over and was eager to do so. I didn't mind much. In fact, I was grateful because I wasn't even sure what I'd say. Plus, it gave me more time to study the fascinating new subject known as Roxas.

As Demyx cheerily took the orders, I noted, for reasons unknown, that Roxas wanted a cupcake. Specifically, a cupcake with blue frosting. Not long after the treats were handed over, the group was checking out with Larxene and then they were exiting the bakery and, once again, joining the mob of paparazzi that had been waiting anxiously outside the door.

Once they were completely out of sight and everything had gone back to normal, I decided to say but I'd been wondering all along. "What the hell was that all about?" I was answered by three blank stares.

Demyx was the first to reply. "You can't be serious," he said while slopping some frosting onto a batch of freshly baked cupcakes. I didn't respond because I didn't have to.

"Do you even live in the same world as the rest of us?" Larxene picked up a magazine from the shelf and brought it over to me. She slapped it on top of the counter, causing Demyx to jump in surprise and squirt some frosting onto the wall. He groaned, but Larxene ignored him and slid the magazine over to me. "I swear, sometimes I really believe you're socially retarded."

I didn't bother to form a retort of any kind and, instead, just peered down at the gossip magazine. '_Sora Strife in a Love Triangle_' read the huge, red letters on the front cover. Underneath was a photograph of a young, brunette guy with huge spikes and big, blue eyes full of shock. He was pulling on the arm of a redheaded girl, and in the corner was a separate picture of a blonde girl. Supposedly, the three of them were in some scandalous love triangle. That is, if gossip magazines were to be believed. But what was that supposed to mean to me? I looked up at Larxene, completely confused. She didn't bother answering my unspoken question and walked back over to her area.

"Who the hell is Sora Strife?"

Demyx let out and exasperated sigh and dropped the tube of icing, focusing his attention on me. "You're killing me, Axel."

"He's a famous actor," Marluxia informed while trying to concentrate on yet another flower arrangement. Flowers were his specialty, which always plagued me with the question of why he opened a bakery instead of a florist shop. I'd never gotten around to asking, but I planned on it someday.

"Really famous!" Demyx threw his arms up in exclamation. "Like massively, super famous. I seriously cannot believe you've never heard of him."

"And what does this have to do with what just went on in here with that Roxas kid?" I asked.

"Open the magazine to page 25," Larxene informed through her incessant gum chewing.

I grumbled at the lack of a straight-forward answer but did as I was told. Page 23. page 24. Finally, I arrived at the desired page, which covered the story on the cover about Sora. At first, I was not amused in the least, but then I spotted a small piece in the corner of the page. _Roxas Strife on the rise?_ _Is the brother of 'it boy' Sora Strife the next big thing?_ And there, clear as day, was a picture of Roxas, the boy who merely minutes ago had been in Wonderland Bakery asking for a cupcake.

I hated magazines like the one I was looking at, but for some reason, that didn't stop me from reading on. Besides the usual gossip that I didn't give a second thought to, I learned that Sora was 20 and had broken into the acting scene just a few years ago when he was 16. Roxas was his younger brother at 19. I felt stupid for not knowing a thing about either of them, especially Sora, since he'd been famous for so long. That was all the Solid information the article gave, so I tossed the magazine to the side and waited for Larxene to come back over and pick it up. I couldn't be bothered to move, after all.

* * *

At the end of the work day, which meant six o'clock for me, I clocked out and left the rest of my co-workers behind to clean up. Finally walking out into the cool, evening air was refreshing. It had grown chillier during the time I'd been stuck inside, and I hadn't even thought to bring a jacket with me that morning, but I didn't care because I was just glad to be outside again. It didn't even matter that the air in Radiant Garden was a bit stagnant and always smelled of exhaust from the thousands of cars racing up and down the highway. I hardly noticed anymore, anyway. That's what happens when you live in one place your whole life.

After inhaling a deep breath and running a hand through my hair, which was looking particularly droopy, I shoved my hands in my pockets and turned left. I was going to head over to the Smoothie King and keep Zexion company for his last half hour of work as I usually did on the weekends.

The bell overhead chimed upon entering, alerting whoever happened to be inside that a new customer had arrived. The place was pretty much dead like it typically was on Sunday evenings. Zexion was nowhere in sight, but the short, bouncy, dark-haired nuisance known as Yuffie was behind the counter. She noticed me almost instantly.

"Hey, Red!" She waved excitedly as the door eased shut behind me. I wasn't very fond of nicknames, but I let that slide when it came to Yuffie. She and Zexion had become somewhat close since they started working together, and that made her something to me. Although, I wasn't quite sure what that something was yet.

"Where's Zexion?" I brushed past the tables in the middle of the floor and walked up to the counter.

"Oh, you know," Yuffie began, a smirk growing on her face as she wiped down the counter. "Probably off being creepy somewhere, like usual."

"I heard that!" Zexion emerged from the back room, carrying a box in his arms. Yuffie cringed once she realized she'd been caught but still turned around and flashed Zexion the sweetest smile she could muster. He ignored her and raised an eyebrow at me. That was my cue to speak.

"So, today something…peculiar happened at the bakery." I placed my elbows on the counter and rested my chin in my hands.

Yuffie perked up immediately, eyes wider than before and attention completely focused on my mouth, waiting with bated breath for the rest of the words to come spilling out. "Ooh, do share," she said eagerly. I knew Yuffie would be interested in my story. She was the queen of gossip, after all.

"Well…" I trailed off, unsuccessfully hiding a smile. I was dragging it along on purpose because I loved to watch Yuffie squirm, to dangle a potentially juicy story in front of her until she almost couldn't take it anymore. Her cheeks puffed up and she started to pout when she figured out exactly what I was doing, but before she had a chance to throw a complete fit, I continued. "This kid named Roxas Strife stopped by…"

Yuffie's eyes lit up like she'd just been handed a slice of heaven, like all of her greatest hopes and wishes were coming true in the form of my words. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't the slightest bit amused by the way she seemed to be having a hard time forming any coherent words. When you rendered Yuffie speechless, it was a true miracle to be cherished.

I decided to turn my attention to Zexion, at least until the girl was able to pull herself together. He had a look of complete disinterest on his face as he took a few cups out of the box and set them in the cupboard below the counter. "Am I supposed to know, or even care, who Roxas Strife is?"

"That's totally what I thought earlier," I said in delight at the fact that Zexion and I were on the same page. It happened a lot more than the two of us ever cared to notice.

"Oh. My. God." Yuffie had overcome her temporary shock, voice calm and controlled, at first. She turned sharply towards Zexion and pointed an accusing finger at him. When he gave no response, she looked back to me. "How can you guys not know who Roxas Strife is? You mean to tell me you've never heard of Sora Strife?"

"Save it," I said, effectively stopping the imminent freak out. "I know all about them _now_, but when he walked through the door, I had absolutely no idea."

"That is incredible!" Yuffie picked up the dishrag and began to furiously scrub the counter. "You guys are sad. Pathetic, even." She seemed satisfied with that, but I could tell by the way she suddenly froze and how her face scrunched up that we were about to get an earful.

"How could you let Roxas Strife walk into your work place and not get an autograph? How could you not let me know so I could go meet him?" She threw the rag at me, but I caught it in my hands as if I'd been expecting it. And I had because that wasn't the first time she'd assaulted me with things lying around counter.

"What I want to know…" Zexion trailed off as he pulled the last few plastic cups out of the box, "is why someone as rich and famous as this Roxas kid would willingly enter that crazy ass little bakery."

"I know, right. That's what I'm saying!" Zexion and I laughed as Yuffie, who had resorted to cleaning off tables, continued her pouting.

I spent the next twenty minutes in the Smoothie King, leaning over the counter and talking to Zexion as he waited to serve customers who never showed up. Yuffie decided that a silent treatment was in order, so she didn't say one word to us the whole rest of the time. I couldn't decide if her silence was a gift or a curse, but I figured it to be the former. It was only as we all exited the small shop that the girl returned to her normal, jovial self when she bid us farewell and promised to see us tomorrow. I never had any doubts that we would.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The next day when I walked through the door of the bakery, I was taken aback by what I saw. The whole place was in complete chaos. Boxes overflowing with different types of desserts littered many of the tables. Baking supplies, papers, and flower arrangements were covering every available surface. Demyx was running amuck behind the counter and griping about how he didn't have enough time. Marluxia was frantically reading off a list in his hand while at the same time trying to arrange some flowers in a very expensive looking vase. Even Larxene looked a bit frazzled as she placed a huge cake into a plastic container.

I was almost convinced that when I stepped through the doorway I had also somehow happened to step into another dimension. There was no way that was the place I worked at. Never in my whole three months of working there had anything quite like that happened. Before I even had the chance to question anything, Marluxia spotted me.

"Thank God you're here, Axel." the pink-haired man dropped the paper he was holding on to a random table and swiftly moved over to me. He grabbed onto my shoulders, and I was getting a little worried. "We need your help!" The look on his face was filled with such desperation that I couldn't help but comply with what he wanted. Whatever that was.

"What exactly is go—"

"Marluxia!" Demyx was panicking and practically clawing his way over the counter. "Read the list over to me again! I know there's something I'm forgetting!" Demyx was a naturally hyper-active and sometimes dramatic human being, but the kind of panic he was exuding was too much, even for him.

Marluxia gave me an apologetic look before picking the list back up and heading off to tend to the blond. I sighed, still none the wiser about what was going on. Then I spotted Larxene, who had just started packing some cupcakes into a box on the other side of the room, and I figured I'd take my chances with her. As soon as I walked over and opened my mouth to speak she raised a finger to my lips to silence me. That seemed to be happening a lot.

"Hey, Betty Crocker!" Demyx turned around as if he knew she was talking to him. "These aren't all the cupcakes." She gestured to the box atop the table. "We need another dozen."

The man's eyes widened at first then he narrowed them as if she had just said something totally offensive. "I know that! You think I don't know that?" His hands started to shake a little, and Marluxia tried to calm him. "I'm in the process of making them, along with a million other things!" He gestured to all the sweets around him. "I'm only one person, you know? Maybe someone else around here should learn to bake, too."

"But Demyx, honey, you're the only one fruity enough for that," Larxene teased. The smirk on her face proving how proud she was of herself.

Demyx made a whimpering sound and looked to be on his way to securing a one way trip to the local mental institution. I couldn't take it anymore. The fact that I didn't know anything made the confusion going on all the more agitating.

"What's going on?" I said it a little louder than originally planned, and all at once everyone stopped what they were doing to stare at me.

"I'm sorry, Axel," Marluxia responded, turning around to face me. "I should have told you sooner but…" he trailed off and gestured for me to look around the room. "…and…" He lifted up the paper in his hands as if that would explain everything, and I was really starting to get annoyed with the lack of straight-forward responses.

"We're going to the Strife mansion," Demyx blurted out.

The confusion on my face was clearly evident because Larxene decided to add onto the blond's outburst. "We're catering their big blow out party thing tomorrow," she scoffed, looking completely unimpressed. "They give us less than a days notice and they want us to make all this shit for them."

"What…?"

That simple question led all three of my co-workers to answering at the same time, each going off on their own individual tangents about how 'this is the craziest thing' or 'they think because they're rich they can do this to people.' That one was my favorite because no one could really force us to cater their party, but who in their right mind would turn down a chance like that? Not only would you be getting paid the big bucks but being able to mingle with all those big name celebrities? It was worth the chaos, in my opinion. What did my opinion matter, though?

Eventually, Marluxia was able to silence the room with a rise of his hand. An ability I wished I had. It would certainly come in handy when Yuffie was running off at the mouth a mile a minute.

He got around to telling me the exact details of what was going on. Apparently, the people who were originally supposed to set up and serve the desserts for the Strife party had to cancel. Something about bad seafood. He wasn't quite clear on those fine points, and I was glad to be spared. Anyways, early that morning he'd received a call from a Cid Strife, obviously Roxas and Sora's father. The man had all but begged Marluxia to help him out and said that he had heard that Wonderland Bakery was the best place in town. That pretty much sealed the deal for my boss, so he accepted the job despite not being ready for it at all. I refrained from mentioning it, but I couldn't help thinking that if our bakery really was the best one in town, how come we weren't asked to cater their little soirée in the first place?

Finally, I was filled in on the details that actually concerned me. The party was the next day and it started at five. It was being held at the Strife's mansion in their backyard, and I, along with Demyx and Larxene, was to arrive an hour early to help set up. The worst part of it all was we had to dress up. That was one time that Marluxia would not back down, which meant I was going to be forced to wear a tuxedo. I'd never even owned anything dressier than a pair of jeans, so needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to it.

* * *

When I walked into a fairly crowded Smoothie King it was the middle of the afternoon. Marluxia let me off work early. At first he was reluctant, but once I told him I didn't own a tuxedo he all but pushed me out the door, demanding I go buy one right away. Right, like the first thing I was going to do with my new found freedom was go shopping for clothes that I was only going to wear once in my life. At least if I could help it.

The lines in front of the counter had to be at least a mile long, but I had nothing better to do with my time, technically, so I took my place behind a particularly large man, who probably shouldn't have been drinking something so fattening and full of sugar in the first place. But who was I to judge other people's bodies? I had been told more times than I could count that I had the body of an anorexic woman.

Yuffie, with her sharp eyes and ability to pick anyone out of a crowd, spotted me instantly. She gave me a small wave. Apparently, she forgot that she was in the middle of filling up a cup with the fruity substance, and it spilled over the edges and onto the floor. I rolled my eyes and heard Zexion grumbling as he tried to stay calm and continue taking orders and the girl huffily trying to explain how it wasn't her fault.

I honestly had no idea how the two of them had ever become friends. Life is weird that way, though, and sometimes situations bring two people, who would have otherwise never even spoken, together. It was like that with me and Zexion, in a way. Sometimes we could seem like complete opposites. But I liked to think of myself as a little saner than Yuffie and therefore more suited to be friends with my quiet roommate.

After only a few minutes, the crowd had thinned out and I was at the front of the line. No one was behind me so I took it as my chance to have a little fun.

"Can I help you?" Zexion eyed me for a few seconds after I didn't say anything.

I batted my eyelashes him. "You can hook me up with one of those strawberry smoothies." The only answer I received was one of his famous deadpanned stares. I knew my antics would annoy him and I mentally patted myself on the back. "C'mon dude, I'm your friend."

"Barely," Zexion laughed out, but I still didn't see him moving to get my smoothie, so I jutted my lower lip out and trying to look as pathetically desperate as I could, which sadly wasn't all that hard. Still no reaction out of him, and I was starting to run out of ideas for how to wheedle my way into getting that drink. I was pretty good at wheedling things out of people and charming my way out of certain situations, if I do say so myself. But for the most part, all of my fine tuned skills were somehow lost on my best friend. "I have a job to do here, Axel. So are you going to annoy me even further, or do you actually have a good reason to be here for once?" He said it as if I was a nuisance, but I knew behind that cold façade of his that he loved my company.

"I came here bearing some very interesting news." Yuffie, who was all the way on the other end of the counter, heard my words and magically appeared at Zexion's side and in my face, and it only took her a fraction of a second. She was so scary sometimes. I swore she was a ninja in a past life. Her eyes were wide and she was ready to absorb any and all information I had to give. I wasn't about to spill my guts that easily, though. "But…I want my smoothie before I say anything."

The girl was crushed. It was almost as if she had just taken a physical blow to the stomach. I'd already learned the hard way that you don't keep Yuffie from the latest gossip. I'd been at the brunt of many of her assaults in the past. One in specific that had me limping into work the next day and brought on a barrage of annoying questions from all of my co-workers. Yuffie apologized a million times and insisted she suffered from rage blackouts. That was a stretch, but I let it go because I liked to mess her. And sometimes I did tend to push the limits of douchebaggery, just slightly. I wasn't about to give in that time, though. There were too many witnesses during the peak hours, and I knew she wouldn't try anything. She may be annoying at times, but she was hardly stupid.

"Give me the money and I'll gladly hand over the product." Zexion always talked like he was so unfazed by things. Many times over the years I'd known him I'd been jealous of that ability of his. If only I was that good at hiding my emotions. Imagine all the possibilities...

"But…"

"If I was to walk into that bakery of yours…" Zexion trailed off for a minute, probably thinking over how ridiculous his statement was. The one and only time he had ever visited the bakery I think he was legitimately traumatized. I couldn't blame him, though. He happened to choose the one day when Demyx thought it would be a good idea to try every flavor and color of icing in stock. Apparently, some people really do get sugar highs. By the end of his visit, it took Larxene, Marluxia and me to peel the hyper-active blond off of him.

Finally, he came back to earth. "If I was to walk into your bakery," I gave him an incredulous look, but he kept talking, "you wouldn't give me a free cupcake or whatever."

Yuffie seemed to be in agreement with him because she stood stiffly by his side with her arms crossed and gave me a curt nod after he finished his argument.

"Totally different story," I defended.

"How so?" Zexion raised his only visible eyebrow and crossed his arms, much like the girl next to him. I was outnumbered, but that wasn't going to stop me.

"I have Marluxia on my ass all day long." It came out wrong. Yuffie seemed to get quite the kick out of my words, but Zexion's serious expression didn't falter. It was so hard to break his defenses. "He would be all over me in a second if he saw me giving out free shit." Another lapse in judgment. I really needed to think before I spoke. But that time I saw the corner of my friend's mouth curve upwards slightly before he caught himself.

I figured I had won because neither he, nor Yuffie seemed to have anything to say. Any minute Zexion would be picking up that plastic cup and turning around to make my precious smoothie.

"That's a load of crap." I was shot down once again. "You're always telling me how you eat cupcakes without paying for them, and your boss doesn't do squat about it."

He got me there. Why was it that Zexion always had to foil my plans? Reluctantly, I pulled a ten dollar bill out of my pocket and handed it to my friend. I could tell by the gleam in his eye that he was celebrating his victory internally.

"Spill it!" Yuffie was practically lying on top of the counter in order to get in my face.

I waited until I was handed the smoothie and it was firmly in my grasp. "Well, for one, I'll be wearing a tuxedo tomorrow."

Zexion let the ugliest laugh I'd ever heard in my life escape from his lips. It was a loud guffaw sort of thing, and it caught the attention of quite a few customers who had been involved in their own peaceful conversations before they'd had their ears assaulted. He blanched, then regained his composure almost instantly.

He cleared his throat before addressing me. "You were saying?"

I eyed him momentarily. The jokes were just writing themselves, but I decided to do the safest thing and continue my story. "Uh…well…I have to wear a tuxedo tomorrow because we're helping to cater this party." I stopped to gauge the reaction, and of course Yuffie was the only one who seemed to be paying attention. But the lack of any real gossip was even causing her to lose interest. I was losing my audience, so I decided it was time to pull out the big gun. "The party is being held at the Strife mansion."

Just as planned, all attention was back on me and it felt good. "That's right, folks. You heard correctly. Yours truly is going to a party at the Strife mansion."

I think Yuffie was stunned into silence because she just stood there, mouth agape and eyes wide. As usual, I knew it was only a matter of time before she got her thoughts collected and her voice back.

"You're not actually going to the party." Zexion was keeping himself busy with the cash register. "You're catering it. Big difference."

"Way to rain on my parade, Zex."

He rolled his eyes at me, but I wasn't fooled. "I didn't know you owned a tuxedo."

"Of course I don't," I said around the straw that was in my mouth. "That's where I'm heading after I get out of this dump."

"Ooh!" Yuffie was back. "Let me go with you! I get off work in like ten minutes. I could help you…"

"I can pick out my own clothes, thanks."

"…pick out something really cool." She kept talking, not even bothering to listen to me.

"Really, Yuffie, it's not that big of a deal."

"You're going to be in the presence of the Strife family. And, let's face it, despite your being gay and all, you have absolutely no fashion sense. You need all the help you can get."

I glared at her. "Uh…no thanks…" I tried to slowly back away, like one would do in the presence of a wild dog that was growling and foaming at the mouth just waiting to attack. But Yuffie was lightning fast. She had leapt over the counter in an instant and was holding onto the front of my shirt so I was facing her and incapable of making an escape. For such a tiny girl she had an immense amount of strength.

"You listen here, Red." People had begun staring again, but Yuffie didn't care and neither did I. I think we both secretly liked the attention, to be honest. "You are getting to hang out with some of the hottest people in the world, not to mention you'll be at their house." Despite her wild behavior, her voice was quite calm. Eerily so. "So the least you can do is let me help you pick out a damn tuxedo."

We stood there for a few silent seconds, Yuffie clutching onto the fabric of my shirt, her indignant expression still in tact. And me, smoothie lifted up in my hands, straw hanging out of my mouth and a somewhat bewildered look on my face. Eventually, I grabbed one of the girls' wrists and lowered her hand. I was careful not to make any sudden movements. I couldn't risk being attacked a second time.

"Ok," I said slowly. "You can come with me."

Her arms went lax, her face softened, and a cheery smile appeared on her lips. It was so odd how she could change moods at the drop of a hat.

"I'll be with you in just a second," she said excitedly and ran off into the back somewhere.

Zexion let out a low whistle and gave me a look of sympathy. "Good luck with that, man."

* * *

Let me tell you something right now. Shopping with Yuffie, for anything at all, is something I never want to experience again. Ever! They could seriously use shopping with her as a torture tactic. It was that bad.

We spent four, that's right, four hours picking out one simple tuxedo. Who knew that they made so many different kinds? They hardly looked any different to me, but Yuffie and the sales guy, an annoying man with an accent that had to be fake, named Luxord, insisted that they were all different and finding the perfect one was like finding a needle in a haystack. The fact that Yuffie had the same thought process as a middle aged man disturbed me in more ways than I cared to think about.

I tried on at least fifteen tuxedos, which might as well all have been the same, in my opinion. The only difference I spotted was their labels and price tags. The crazy girl actually tried to get me to buy one that cost five hundred dollars. I considered just walking away and leaving her right then and there. Eventually, we did settle on one. Yuffie said it was simple and wouldn't impress anyone at the party. I don't think she quite grasped that I was going to be catering and not partying the night away with the rest of the guests. I'm pretty sure that she was trying to live vicariously through me. I wouldn't have been surprised one bit if she actually suggested that I wear a dress and high heels. Maybe the next day she'd come over and do my make-up before I left.

It was five o'clock by the time we made it out of the small shop and even later by the time I'd dropped Yuffie off at her house and finally made it home.

When I got inside and shut the door behind me, I noticed Zexion sitting on the end of the couch, reading a book under the light of the lamp. He glanced up at me when he heard the door shut. "How'd it go?"

I lifted my arm that the Tuxedo was draped over and wordlessly made my way into the living room. I laid it down on the arm of the couch and kicked my shoes off before collapsing onto the cushions.

"That bad, huh?" He took off his black-framed reading glasses and set them aside on top of his book. I just stared back in response. "You gonna give me any details?"

"I think I'll spare you," I said as I leaned my head back and shut my eyes. Shopping with a wild woman can really wear you out.

"Since when do you spare people?"

I lifted my head back up, suddenly feeling my spirits lifting. "You're right." I gave my friend a smirk before I turned to face him. "It was horrible."

"I can imagine."

"No, you can't. It was beyond imaginable. The girl is insane, and I think she's like a fifty year old man in a woman's body." Zexion lifted his eyebrow in question at my accusation, so I continued. "She and the hundred year old sales guy had too much in common. And, seriously, she was having too much fun picking out men's clothes."

"Well, at least you got a tuxedo." He reached over to the table at the side and pulled something into his lap that I didn't bother paying attention to. I was too wrapped up in talking about my unfortunate experience.

"Yea, but I don't even know if it was worth it," I replied. "She said she would kill me if I didn't get her an autograph."

"I wouldn't put it past her," Zexion said as calmly as ever.

I decided to look at what he was holding in his hands. "What are those?"

He tossed the items over to me without a word. I picked them up and studied them. They were movies. Each one of them, I noticed, staring Sora Strife.

"What are these?" I asked, holding up a particular DVD that had Sora and a young, silver-haired male on the front cover.

"Are you blind?"

"No, but I mean…why?"

Zexion shifted in his seat a little. I could tell he was getting a bit uncomfortable. "I don't know. On my way home from work I passed by the video store, and I just got…curious."

"How unlike you," I teased.

"Yea well…" He grabbed one of the cases out of my hands. "You're going to be around these people tomorrow and all so…"

"I got you." I decided to be nice and ease his embarrassment. I picked up the DVD that was holding my interest earlier and walked over to the TV to turn it on.

We spent countless hours that night watching Sora's movies, which ranged from comedy to action and adventure. By the time we'd reached the fourth movie and it was going on two in the morning, Zexion informed me that he was going to bed. He didn't seem to be too interested in the movies, anyway. He was always more of a book reader. He was the kind of person who would complain about how a movie didn't live up to the book. The kind of person who would get on my last nerve if he wasn't my very best friend in the whole entire world.

I spent at least three extra hours on our living room couch watching the last movie. I didn't have to be up early the next day, so I figured why not? The more I looked at Sora, the more I could see the family resemblance between him and Roxas. They could probably pass for twins if they really wanted to. Not that I'd seen either of them very much to compare, but I had studied Roxas quite a bit when he was at the bakery that one day. It was kind of hard to miss those big, blue eyes that he and Sora seemed to share. The only difference was Roxas' were a deeper shade of azure than his brother's, and where his looked sad and almost listless; Sora's were filled with light and laughter. It was a sad thought, that is, if I actually cared about either of them.

I had to admit to myself that Sora was a pretty talented actor. The fact that he played so many diverse roles made it hard to deny that he had a natural ability. My thoughts were suddenly drawn back to the younger Strife sibling, and I wondered if he had any acting ability or other talents. Talent does seem to run in families. Unfortunately for me, the only gift I'd be able to receive from my family was a talent for gambling and a complete disregard for others.

The credits started rolling for the last movie and I could feel my eyes shutting on their own. I looked at the clock above the TV and saw that it was going on five in the morning. I was too tired to get off the couch, so I just decided to crash there. After a day like I had, it didn't take long for me to fall asleep.

* * *

The Strife family lived in the richest part of town, a part of town I'd never bothered to venture into before. I'd never had a reason to. They lived in this huge, gated beachfront community on Bayshore Drive. The place was called Clipper Cove.

I was already running late when I pulled up in front of the biggest mansion I'd ever laid eyes on in my life. Zexion conveniently forgot to wake me up before going to work, and since I hadn't fallen asleep till the wee hours of the morning, I slept way past what I should have. I rushed as fast as I could, took a shower, got dressed and was all ready to go until I realized that I had to stop by the bakery to pick up one last thing. I was in charge of bringing the ice cream cake so it didn't melt before the party started. Marluxia already took the rest of the deserts in his van earlier in the day.

When I stepped out of the car, I took a moment to look at the huge house in front of me. It was nothing short of marvelous. Every inch of it was a pristine white that made it stand out from all the other houses surrounding it. The light from the setting sun made it sparkle and shine in an almost magical way. It was two stories and covered in windows and was the kind of place that only existed in dreams. Apparently, when you're rich and famous dreams really do come true.

I slowly made my way up the pathway, still trying to take it all in, imagining what it would have been like to grow up in a place like that instead of the hell-hole I was forced to grow up in.

I walked up the concrete steps to the huge, white door that just seemed to say 'Welcome.' I rang the doorbell, and the chimes it elicited only served to make the whole experience even more otherworldly. After a few seconds of waiting the door opened and I was greeted by another set of blue eyes and blond, spiky hair. The guy was tall and a lot more muscular than I was. Not to mention, he was gorgeous. What is it with rich people and their amazing genes? I'll admit that I felt inferior, but only for a second.

The blond stood there, wine glass in hand, regarding me strangely for a few seconds before he looked down and saw the cake I was holding in my hands. He smiled warmly, and suddenly I felt like I'd seen him somewhere before. "You must be one of the caterers."

Somehow, even while being held under his gaze, I was able to find my voice. "Yea, I'm actually kind of late." I gave a sheepish smile as I explained myself.

He waved his hand in dismissal and invited me inside. "Don't worry about it."

"Yea, these things don't really start until nightfall, anyway." It was only then that I noticed the presence of someone else just inside the entrance, a tall, young, silver-haired man with impossibly green eyes. Once again, my theory of rich people's genes was proven to be true. And even more than that, I was starting to get a strange sense that I'd seen those people before even though I knew I never had.

"The party is taking place outside." The blond motioned the way to go with his hand that was holding the glass. "Just go straight through the family room and you'll reach the doors that take you out to the backyard."

I nodded in response, and the two men left me alone to find me way. If possible, the inside of the house was even more mesmerizing than the outside. The whole place was colored in shades of rich golds and yellows. There was a winding staircase off to the left that led up to a second floor and a sort of balcony that looked over the family room. The whole place was enormous and looked like a castle. I suspected that if I opened up one of the many doors I'd find a huge ballroom, inside of it a girl and a beast dancing around the floor. Maybe in the kitchen I'd be greeted by an array of talking silverware?

I made my way through the family room, trying not to touch anything as I went. I didn't even feel like I should have been walking on the floor. Everything just seemed so perfect, and I didn't want to mess it up. I eventually reached the back door, two huge doors made of glass. Before opening one, I spotted a candelabra sitting on a table out of the corner of my eye. I stared at it for a few seconds, waiting for something to happen, only to realize how completely nuts I was acting and made my way outside.

The Strife's backyard was not your typical 'cooking on the grill and playing some catch' kind of backyard. In fact, it wasn't much of a yard at all. Almost the whole area was covered in concrete and, true to form, it was huge as well. The section in the middle had tables and chairs laid out and space for people to stand around and mingle with one another. Directly behind that was a huge pool, and beyond that was a ledge that overlooked half of Radiant Garden. It was a spectacular view. The tables of food were set up on either side of the patio and most of the caterers were behind them. Some were walking through the crowd of guests that had already arrived with trays of various foods.

I spotted Demyx behind a table over to my right, directly in front of a luxurious looking pool house. I quickly made my way over to him, desperate to get the cake out of my hands. He was arranging the various desserts on the table and didn't even bother to look up when I arrived beside him.

"You're late," He informed me as he set a batch of cupcakes out on the far end of the table.

"You think I don't know that?"

He looked up and gave me a half smile. "You're just lucky that Marluxia is too busy to rage at you right now."

I opened the box that the cake was in and carefully pulled it out. "Where is he?" I laid the cake down on the surface with ease so I didn't drop it or knock anything over. That would be the last thing I needed. "And where is Larxene, for that matter?"

"Working the crowd."

I started to search the mass of people for my co-workers, but instead my eyes landed on an interesting group of people I'd seen before. Demyx had apparently noticed my staring.

"They interest you," he asked. I just shrugged in response. "I bet you have no idea who they are."

"I have some idea." I really didn't have the slightest clue who they were, exactly. All I knew was that I'd seen them before.

Demyx sighed in resignation. "You see the girl on the left?" I looked at the girl. She was laughing at something, her auburn hair hanging freely and framing her perfectly shaped face. She was wearing a very skimpy black dress that didn't even reach mid-thigh and showed more cleavage than necessary. "That's Kairi Faber," he continued on. "Heiress to the Highwind Hotel fortune and Sora's best friend."

That triggered my memory. I remembered seeing her on the magazine cover with Sora. She was the one who was supposed to be in a love triangle with him. Speaking of the love triangle, the supposed third point, the small and very petite blonde girl who had also been mentioned in the article, was standing right next to Kairi. She was wearing a white sleeveless gown that flowed all around her and gave her the appearance of an angel.

"The blond is Naminé Beaumont," Demyx informed me. "Superly famous fashion model and one of Kairi and Sora's friends."

The two girls apparently didn't have any ill will towards each other because they were laughing together as they flirted with the guys standing across from them them. Both guys had silver hair. One I recognized from one of the movies I'd watched the night before, and the other I'd met at the entrance a few minutes earlier.

"The shorter male is Riku Hikari. He's an actor just like Sora and almost as famous as him too." Demyx leaned in closer before speaking again. "They're supposedly friends, but rumor is they have this sort of rivalry thing going on."

I rolled my eyes at them mention of the word rumor. I was the kind of person who wasn't interested in hearsay. Facts were reliable and much less troublesome.

My co-worker continued on as if he didn't even notice my reaction. "The taller one is Kadaj Hikari, Riku's brother." I saw Riku lean forward and say something to Kairi with a sly smile. The girl just blushed and turned her face away. "Kadaj is friends with Cloud."

It was starting to freak me out how much my friend knew about those people, but I figured I'd squeeze as much information out of him as I could. What else was I supposed to do? I was bored and maybe even slightly fascinated by their lives. "Who's Cloud?"

"Don't you know anything?" Demyx huffed, but I could tell that he was really enjoying spilling everything he knew. " Cloud Strife. He's Sora and Roxas' older brother." I gave my co-worker a clueless look and he sighed. "Tall, blond, spiky hair, blue eyes like the rest of them."

I suddenly realized that Cloud was the one I had met at the door earlier. No wonder he looked so familiar. "I met him earlier."

"What?" Demyx whipped around so fast that he almost lost his balance, and I had to steady him before he crashed down on top of all the desserts. "You _met_ Cloud Strife?"

"Uh…kinda...and Kadaj, too."

He grabbed my shoulders. "What? How? Why? I need details!"

"I didn't really meet them, per say. But they answered the door and told me where to go."

He stared at me wordlessly for a few minutes, and I was getting a sudden feeling of déjà vu. I'd never realized how alike Demyx and Yuffie were until that moment.

Finally, the grip on my shoulders was loosened when I heard the back door open, and the crowd went silent. I looked at Demyx's face. He was staring straight over my shoulder, unblinking, so I turned around to see what was going on.

I saw an older man and woman exiting through the back door followed by the three I'd already known to be Roxas, Sora, and Cloud. The three siblings were dressed in tuxedos that looked quite like mine but had probably cost thousands of dollars more. I let my eyes fall on Roxas. He still looked like that same sad-eyed kid who I'd seen in the bakery a few days before. His arms were crossed over his chest, and he didn't seem to be enjoying himself at all. I watched Sora lean over and say something in his ear, and he received a small half smile from his sibling in return. That was the first time I'd seen Roxas show any kind of happy emotion since I'd first seen him, which granted, hadn't been very much.

"That's Cid Strife, the father." Demyx was back to his informing ways. "And his wife, Melinda Strife."

The man was wearing a black tuxedo just like every other man at the party. With so much money you'd think that those people could have afforded to be at least somewhat original. His wife was wearing this long dress that poofed out and flowed all around her. It was light purple and white and also had some floral patterns swirling around it. She was wearing this ridiculously big straw hat on her head with a scarf wrapped around it and then tied under her chin. Suddenly, I felt like I'd been thrown back into the eighteenth century, and it took all I had not to laugh out loud.

"She's fabulous." Of course Demyx would find someone like her entrancing. "I mean, she's over forty years old and she still looks amazing."

"Well, maybe you can be her when you grow up and become a woman," I mocked him. "You're seriously outgaying yourself, Demyx."

I saw a pout forming on his lips, but it disappeared as soon as Mr. Strife started to address the crowd.

"I want to thank you all for coming out tonight." For some reason my attention was back on the youngest of Strife. I noticed him roll his eyes at his father's words. "As you all know, this party is for the release of Sora's new movie."

The crowd started to clap politely. Demyx was clapping along with them, so I decided it would be best if I joined in.

"We're very pound of him." Cid dragged his middle child forward and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Mrs. Strife pulled her son into a hug as well. "Anyway, we have some celebrating to do tonight, so please enjoy yourselves."

I heard some loud cheers from the crowd, and my attention was brought back to the group I'd been staring at earlier. I watched Sora walk over to them, followed by Cloud. The girls hugged the new arrivals and kissed each one on the cheek as the boys all politely shook hands. I looked around to see where Roxas was, only to catch a glimpse of him as he disappeared inside of the house.

After a couple hours of standing behind the dessert tables and people watching, I was practically dying of boredom. The sun had set a while ago and the dark night sky was filled with stars. There were little lanterns set up all around the back porch and candles on the tables to light up the area. All the lights were on in the house as well, so that helped to illuminate the backyard, too. People were scattered everywhere. Some had chosen to go inside while others decided to continue their celebrating outside. Sora and the rest of the group were still outside socializing, but I hadn't spotted Roxas once since he left earlier.

I couldn't figure the kid out. He had an awesome house and an awesome life in general, yet he didn't seem to care at all. Sora and Cloud were enjoying themselves, and neither one of them had bothered to go and look for their brother. It must have been something he did often, disappearing like that. I was broken away from my thoughts when I felt my phone rumbling in my pocket. I was actually quite thankful in that moment because I was getting a little too involved in other people's lives for my liking.

I looked down at the phone and realized it was Zexion. He sent me a text message. _What's it like living the high life?_

I laughed to myself as I typed back the reply. _Fabulous._

"Who was that?" Demyx had leaned over to get a look at my phone.

"Zexion," I replied as I shoved the device back in my pocket.

"Ah, the best friend slash lover." I thought I heard a slight tinge of jealousy in his voice.

"That's sick, man." There was no way in hell Zexion and I would ever be lovers. I would never screw up our friendship like that, and we weren't each other's types, anyway. "He's my best friend and that's it."

The man at my side raised his eyebrows but seemed content with my response. He set out another batch of cupcakes to replace the empty space on the table.

"Look, Demyx, I'm gonna go take a break." I felt the need to move. My legs were starting to feel like they would never work again from standing in one place so long.

"Go ahead." He waved me off with a smile. "Things are winding down and there's nothing much to do here, anyway."

I gave him a small salute and started to make my way through the crowd, only to be startled into stopping by fingers snapping, practically in my face, and a voice coming from beside me.

"Hey, excuse me."

I abruptly turned around and found myself almost face to face with someone very familiar. The silver hair was falling down in wisps over his face but it couldn't hide his turquoise colored eyes. I was so entranced that I almost forgot how annoyed I was at him putting his hands all up in my face. I took a second to look around and noticed that the rest of the group, Sora, Cloud and everyone, were all tentatively staring at me.

"Can I get a refill here?" I turned back to Riku as he held an empty wine glass out to me. The way he was looking at me expectantly, like I should just bow to his every whim, broke me out of my stupor and brought back my fighting spirit.

"No, you can't." I hoped I wouldn't get in trouble for what I was doing. The shocked expressions on the faces all around me told me that it probably wasn't a good idea. But I couldn't take back what I'd already said, and I wasn't about to let anyone push me around. I knew I was working for those people, but re-filling the drinks of spoiled, rich kids wasn't part of my job description.

"Excuse me?" Riku looked like he had never been turned down for anything in his whole life and he probably hadn't. Oh, the joys of being rich, famous, and beautiful.

"No, you can't," I repeated. "I'm on a break and I'm not in charge of refilling drinks, anyway." I tried to keep the smirk off of my face, but it wasn't working. "Looks like your legs are working pretty well. Why don't you go refill that drink yourself." I patted him on the shoulder in a rather condescending way.

The look on Riku's face was priceless, and I congratulated myself on a job well done. Just before I turned to walk away I noticed the impressed looks I was getting from the other guys and the girls' giggling in the background. I knew then that I wasn't going to get in as much trouble as I'd thought previously.

I walked through the house, weaving my way through the crowd. Despite my immense urge to satisfy my curiosity and check out the rest of the house, I decided it would be best if I just headed out to the front porch.

When I opened the front door and made my way back out into the chilly night air, I discovered that the porch wasn't as empty as I thought it would be. There, sitting on the edge of the top step with his elbows resting on his knees and his head in his hands, was the elusive little blond I'd hardly seen all evening. His tuxedo jacket was thrown carelessly on the ground behind him, and I got the feeling he hated wearing them as much as I did. Apparently, he hadn't heard my arrival. Either that or he just didn't care because he didn't look up.

I hesitated for a moment before finally finding the will to say anything. "Uh…Sorry, I didn't know anyone was out here."

He lifted his head up and looked at me. I couldn't quite make out the expression on his face, but I don't think he was impressed with my regal beauty or my impressive way with words.

"Whatever." He shrugged me off and turned back around.

I was unsure of what to do. Leaving might have made it seem like I didn't want to be around him, and that would seem rude, so I just decided to lean against one of the huge pillars that was holding up the small balcony above the porch up.

The silence dragged on for what seemed like eternity, and it wasn't the comfortable kind either. No, it was the kind that just hung around and suffocated you and made you feel like you'd never be able to escape it. I hated those kinds of moments, so I decided to try and at least make some sort of conversation. I thought of something easy to say that wouldn't make me seem like I was trying to pry into his personal life. I couldn't deny that I wanted to know more about the youngest Strife for reasons that even I couldn't explain, but I luckily had enough sense to know when I'd be overstepping my boundaries.

"Nice house." It was an innocent comment. At least I thought it was.

"It's not my house," he replied with a touch of venom in his voice. "It's my parents'." I had no idea what to say. Roxas seemed to take my silence as the fact that I was a moron because he added to his statement. "I don't live here anymore."

The stifling silence was back again, and I was racking my brain to come up with something to say. It was odd for me to not be able to construct simple sentences. I usually had no problem coming up with idle conversation. I would actually say it was one of my strong points. But put me on a porch with a short, brooding blond boy with huge, blue eyes and I can't even hardly speak, let alone think of anything coherent say.

I heard Roxas sigh, and it broke me out of my thoughts. I wanted to ask what was wrong. I wanted to ask why he wasn't out in the backyard with his brothers. I wanted to ask him a million questions. But I didn't.

"Your family seems nice." I saw him tense a little, but he didn't give any other reaction, so I went on. "Your whole life seems pretty…I don't know…perfect."

Roxas whipped his head around and glared at me like I'd just called his mother a dirty whore. I was surprised, to say the least. I mean, I'd just paid him a pretty nice compliment, if I do say so myself, and apparently it pissed him off.

"Or maybe your life is a swirling pit of despair," I tried to amend whatever I'd done wrong. "And your family is probably lame, what do I know?"

It didn't work because he was still staring at me with that same look on his face. The tension was growing to an all-time high, and just when I thought I was going to be melted down by his intense stare, he abruptly stood up and grabbed his jacket. He gave me one last look over his shoulder, only that time it was a little less heated. Then he opened the door forcefully and pushed his way through the crowd.

I just stood there, watching him leave, watching the door slowly shut on its own. I stood there for a few lingering minutes wondering what in the actual hell I had just witnessed. Roxas was more of a mystery to me then than ever before, and for some reason that drew me to him. Usually, if someone seemed to be more trouble than they were worth, I'd walk away and forget about them. But I knew I wouldn't be putting Roxas in the back of my mind anytime soon.

Eventually, I regained enough of my senses to remove myself from the front porch and return the backyard. It was getting late, the party would probably be over soon and I needed to help clean up, or at least pretend I was.

I knew it was a lost cause, but I still looked around the house as I was walking through, in case Roxas happened to be in the crowd. As expected, he wasn't. But when I stepped out the back door I saw something completely unexpected. Sora and his group were hanging around our dessert table, talking to Demyx. I could only imagine the lengths my friend had to go through to keep his cool. He was probably exploding from joy on the inside.

As soon as I started moving forward again, Sora and everyone were saying their goodbyes and turning around to leave. I walked past them on my way to the table and the short brunette gave me a smile and a tiny nod.

"What was that?" I asked Demyx excitedly as soon as the group was out of hearing range.

"…I don't even know…" He was staring straight ahead as he answered me and didn't even bother to blink.

"Thanks for the details, Dem."

"Well, uh, they just started coming over and talking to me." He was slowly coming down from his high.

"Oh, really?" I picked up an empty tray from the table and threw it in an empty box. "What did they have to say?"

"Well, at first they were talking about you."

That caught my attention completely. "Me?" What was so special about me? Besides my freakishly red hair and facial tattoos. "What could they possibly have to say about me?"

"Apparently, you made quite the impression on them when you told freakin' Riku Hikari off!"

I rolled my eyes at Demyx's excitement. "I didn't tell him off. I merely refused to be his bitch."

"Yea, well, whatever." He picked up an apple tart and bit off a piece before talking again with his mouth full. "The point is, no one says no to Riku Hikari." He spit out little pieces of the dessert as he talked and I moved away, still trying to clean off the table. "They were all really impressed with you."

That hadn't been my intention at all. I was actually surprised that people so famous cared about me enough to talk about me. It was certainly a boost to my already somewhat inflated ego.

"And then they invited us to Sora's movie premiere this weekend at the Twilight Cinema!" He shouted a little too loudly, gaining us some annoyed stares.

"What?"

"We're going to Sora's movie premiere this Saturday night!"

In some ways that was exactly what I was looking for, a way to get closer to Roxas, to learn more about him. But in other ways maybe it was all just too much. I mean, was that really happening? Was I actually invited to a movie premiere by a bunch of famous people? There was no way I wasn't dreaming. Any minute I was going to be woken up by Zexion shoving me off my bed like he always did on mornings when I slept through my alarm.

"I can't go," I said, much to the blond's disappointment.

"What do you mean you can't go? Are you crazy or something?"

"I can't go without Zexion."

His grin grew even wider. "That's not a problem then because Sora said we could bring as many friends as we wanted."

So that was it. It was really happening. I was actually going to a real movie premiere. And as much as I might have tried to hide it, I really was excited.

A few minutes later Marluxia and Larxene returned to the table again. They'd been back and forth all night, serving treats and then coming back for more. The party was just about over and half the guests had already left, so Marluxia told us it was time to pack everything up and leave before we wore out our welcome.

When I arrived home that night Zexion was already asleep, so I didn't get to tell him about the big news. It was weird being back home in my apartment after a night like I'd just had. It was like coming home from a vacation, almost. You know that feeling you get where in some ways you're glad to be back home, but you really just want to go back to that hotel on the beach. Yea, that's how I felt.

As soon as I laid down in my bed, sleep came almost instantly. And that night I dreamed of blue eyes and spiky, blond hair.

* * *

**Writing in Axel's point of view is interesting. & Just to make it clear when he's staring at the candelabra that's a reference to Beauty and Beast. He's not just some crazy person who thinks inanimate objects come to life. :p**

**I took some creative liberties here with the whole catering thing because I'm pretty sure there aren't separate caterers for dinner and dessert but I needed a reason to get Axel over to Roxas' parents house.**

**If you have any thoughts, comments, whatever, let me know! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

On Saturday afternoon I found myself sitting on the sofa in Yuffie's living room. The one thing I'd forgotten about when I agreed to go to the movie premiere was the fact that there would be no way Zexion and I could go without informing and inviting Yuffie. Of course, we actually could have left her behind, but that wasn't a good idea and would probably result in the both of us suffering from physical pain considering what the girl was capable of. Not to mention, as much as I liked to pick on and gripe about her, Yuffie was entertaining and I liked to be around her for the most part. She also held a special place in Zexion's heart, and that meant she had a place in mine as well. I kind of felt like she was the annoying little sister I never had.

My roommate and I were just sitting there while the girl ran back and forth between her bedroom and living room, trying on different outfits and showing them to us for our opinions. Apparently, being gay makes you an expert on fashion. Well, except for me, which I'd already established by the tuxedo shopping the other day. But, Zexion, despite never admitting it, had amazing fashion sense. Sometimes I wondered how he could bear being around me in public. Him with his designer clothes and me looking like I picked up the first shirt I could find and threw it on, which most of the time was exactly what I did.

Zexion had actually picked out what I was wearing at that exact moment. I'd conveniently forgotten that the movie premiere was a sort of formal affair. Of course, we weren't going to be going to be all decked out in tuxedos and gowns, that was for the celebrities. But I couldn't walk in there looking like it was just any other old day at the local movie theater. The only problem was I didn't really own anything nice enough to wear. Zexion, in a moment of stupidity, suggested that I just wear something of his. After I finished laughing and after he'd given me the meanest death glare I'd ever received, I explained to my roommate that he was quite a bit shorter than I was, and there was no way my tall, lanky ass would fit into his dwarf clothes.

I almost resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to go shopping again. Memories of my last shopping trip with Yuffie flew through my mind, and I knew that somehow she would force her way into going with me again. I considered not going to the premiere at all, and in the middle of Zexion chastising me and telling me how idiotic I was being, the phone rang like a sign from heaven. What happened next was nothing short of a miracle, in my opinion. It was Demyx calling to confirm our plans for meeting at the theater. That's when I got an idea. My blond co-worker and I were about the same height, give or take an inch or two. Surely, he would have something I could wear.

So Zexion and I stopped by Demyx's before heading over to Yuffie's. My roommate picked out a white button down shirt and a pair of black dress pants. The clothes were a tad big on me considering I was a lot thinner than Demyx, but it didn't really seem to matter too much. I thought I looked ridiculous, but the other two men insisted that I looked just fine. I took their words for it, but it didn't make me feel any less weird. Would I ever get used to dressing up? Somehow, I doubted it. It just wasn't me.

Not too long after our detour to Demyx's, we made it to our original intended destination. Yuffie swung the front door open before either one of us could lift our hands to knock. The look of pure panic on her face didn't surprise me. I figured she'd be freaking herself out over everything, and I was correct. She pulled us both inside at the same time with her incredible power, and all at once started talking without even bothering to take a breath, about what she was going to wear, about how she was going to do her hair, about the color of lipstick she should apply. It was a never ending cycle of panic induced freakouts until Zexion calmed her down by telling her we were there to help.

We sat through Yuffie modeling at least twenty different outfits and eventually settled on a basic, black dress. Not as skanky as the one that Kairi had worn to the party at the Strifes' but not very conservative either. The dark-haired girl insisted that she had to look hot in the presence of so many famous people. To be honest, I didn't care what she wore or how she did her hair. I just agreed with everything Zexion said. I don't think I was really there for my expert opinions, anyway.

By the time Yuffie had gotten completely ready and checked herself in the mirror for the thousandth time, it was just about time for us to leave. That is, if we wanted to arrive on time. The whole car ride was one long twenty minutes of Yuffie babbling nonstop. Luckily Zexion was driving, and luckily he was always so unfazed by things because if I was behind the wheel I probably would have accidentally swerved off the road and hit a tree. That definitely would have ruined our plans for the night.

When we got to Twilight Cinema, the crowds were already gathering. There was a long red carpet leading from the main doors of the theater all the way down to the street where the celebrities would be making their entrances. Barricades were set up on either side, and security guards were already lined up to keep the fans from breaking through and to make sure that everything stayed safe and nothing went wrong. Most of the people who were waiting at the red carpets' sides were just random fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite actor or actress.

The rest of us, who weren't celebrities but were still invited to the premiere, didn't get the privilege of walking the red carpet. I had to admit it was slightly disappointing. I would have loved the chance to confuse the hell out of people as I walked into the theater. The baffled looks on their faces as they tried to figure out who I was would have made my night. But, alas, I would just have to settle for waiting until the crowd had dispersed and the carpet was removed to enter like the mere mortal I was.

When we got out of the car I spotted Demyx amongst a crowd of fangirls behind the barricades. He seemed to be having a pretty intense conversation with them. Probably about who was cuter: Riku or Sora? Yuffie ran over ahead of Zexion and me and made herself fit right in with the rest of the spastic girls.

"How long have you been here," I asked my co-worker once we approached him.

"Uh…not very long actually." I didn't miss his gaze linger on Zexion for a split second longer than normal. I was pretty perceptive in that way. "I forgot to tell you when I talked to Sor—"

I cut him off by covering my hand over his mouth. Thank God I had been paying attention otherwise we might have been attacked by rabid fangirls. We would have never been able to escape their grasps. Demyx was puzzled for a minute and still tried to get his sentence out, but his words were muffled by my hand. I gave him a stern look and then looked towards the group of girls who were watching us with a child-like curiosity. He seemed to grasp my point because he nodded, and I slowly removed my hand from his face, ready to stop him from speaking again if he did anything stupid.

"Oh my god!"

The high pitched screech was almost enough to make my eardrums burst. I turned to my right and discovered the voice had come from a small, pre-teen, brunette girl. She was clutching onto a picture of Riku in her arms, looking up at me dazedly. Then I noticed that quite a few of the other tweens were looking my way and Zexion's way, too. Things were starting to get a little too freaky for my liking.

"You guys are so hot," a blonde girl said as she made her way to the front of the group and beamed up at me. "What's your name?"

"And who's your friend?" another girl piped up and pointed over at Zexion.

The situation was so comical that I didn't think I would be able to speak without bursting out into fits of laughter. Before I could regain my composure enough to even say my name, Yuffie did the talking for me.

"Don't bother, girls." She waved a hand in my direction. "They bat for the other team." She received a collection of clueless stares, so she sighed and tried again. "They're gay."

She got a few nods of understanding in return, but some of the other girls still seemed to be somewhat perplexed.

"But…why?" a pudgy girl with braces, glasses, and Sora's name written across her forehead in marker asked me.

"I was born that way, Sugar." I flashed a charming smile and her cheeks reddened as she hid her face behind her hands.

"That's kinda hot, though," the blonde from earlier spoke up again, and the rest of her friends all giggled in agreement. "Why don't you two kiss for us?" she pointed to Zexion and me.

Kids these days…I was about to turn down the request when the crowd erupted into fits of screams and cheers. Thankfully, the girls' eyes were no longer on Zexion and me and were instead focused on the limousines that were pulling up to the red carpet. Various different celebrities, most of whom I didn't know, poured out of the vehicles and made their ways down the carpet. Cameras were flashing and shouts of joy were sounding out from all around.

The next limo pulled up, and the crowd seemed to take a collective breath of anticipation, waiting to see who was inside. And just when I thought things couldn't get any louder, they did. The door opened and Sora was the first to step out. He held his hand out for Kairi, and the two of them started to walk down the carpet arm in arm.

"Sora!"

"Sora, I Love you, ohmygod!"

The screams of delight and the sights of the girls all around me going wild with teenage lust were quite a distraction, but I tried to keep my focus on the limousine. Maybe I was just as curious as everyone else about who was going to get out of it next and what they were going to be wearing, or maybe I was just waiting to see a certain blond who'd become so interesting to me.

Sora reached out to a few of his fans as he walked by, but he was quickly ushered along even when he tried to stay for longer. You could tell that he really cared for his fans, and it was nice to see that, despite being so well-known and the dream guy of practically every single girl on the planet, he was still down to earth. Technically, I didn't really know Sora. I hadn't even spoken one word to him, but he just seemed like the kind of person who wore their heart and emotions on their sleeve. It just didn't seem possible that he had a self-centered, mean streak hidden behind his bubbly and infectious personality.

The next out of the limo was Riku. Naminé followed right behind him, and when they started on their way down the carpet the screams once again rose to an all-time high. I was shoved to the side by a couple of girls who were scrambling to the front, hoping to catch a glimpse of their idol. Either fangirls on the hunt have incredible strength or I'm just too skinny for my own good.

Riku looked like he was enjoying every bit of attention thrown his way. He was so smug, and the fact that he thought the world of himself was written all over his face. The more screams he received, the bigger his smirk grew. It didn't take a genius to see that the silver-haired youth was completely full of himself.

Cloud and Kadaj were next to exit the vehicle, and the shouts quieted a little. The younger girls all seemed to be searching frantically for someone else. I had an idea who that someone was because I was looking for him myself.

Demyx took that lull in the chaos as a chance to pat me on the shoulder. I reluctantly pulled my eyes from the scene in front of us and turned to my co-worker. Zexion leaned in closer to hear what the blond had to say.

"Like I was going to say earlier…" Demyx looked around shiftily before continuing in a lowered voice. "When I talked to Sora at the party, he said we could sit in the private box with him and the rest of his group."

Twilight Cinema was, for the most part, like your average movie theater, except it had a special theater that was quite a bit larger than all the rest and had very different seating arrangements. It had private boxes up above the general seating area, much like you would find if you were going to the theater to see a play. I'd never actually been inside that particular section, but I heard it was way nicer than anything us regular folks had. The reason Twilight Cinema had that special room was because it was often used for movie premieres in which tons of famous people attended.

"You risked us getting mauled to death by fangirls for _that_?" I gave Demyx an incredulous look before turning back around to check what was happening on the red carpet. Cloud and Kadaj were still making their ways inside.

"I just thought you should know." I knew he was pouting without even having to look.

"I'm just saying, you could have told us when we got inside. It would be better than risking letting anyone in on the fact that we've had personal contact with Sora, not to mention we're going to be sitting next to him."

"What?" Yuffie was at our sides in an instant. Did I forget to mention she also had supersonic hearing to go along with her keen sense of sight and inhuman strength? "Did I just hear you correctly?"

Someone must have been watching over us that day because before she got the chance to have a full fledged freak out, the crowd started roaring again and Yuffie's attention was dragged away from what she'd just heard and back to what everyone was shrieking at. I gave a knowing look to Zexion, and we both let out two identical sighs of relief.

"Oh my god he is so hot. I'm gonna die!"

"Roxas! I love you!"

"I want to have your babies, Roxas!"

As soon as I heard the familiar yells of the girls, I quickly turned back around in time to see Roxas as he stepped out of the limo. As usual, he didn't look too happy to be there. He did manage a small smile and a few waves as he walked by his adoring fans, though. Luckily, when it comes to pre-teen girls the concept of fake smiles and hiding behind a mask doesn't really register. All that mattered to them was that Roxas was there, right in front of their eyes, and looking hot.

I was too busy staring at his back as he walked away and then too busy staring at the space where he used to be after he disappeared through the doors to realize that the excitement had died down for the most part, and the majority of the crowd was dispersing.

I was pushed forward suddenly, and when I turned around I saw Zexion giving me a look I couldn't quite discern. It was pretty obvious that he noticed my gazing. I probably looked like any one of the love struck fans that had been surrounding us a few seconds earlier, but I didn't want him to get any ideas. Sure, the youngest Strife was intriguing to me for some reason beyond my comprehension, and maybe I thought he was somewhat— ok, very attractive. But that's as far as it went. At least that's what I tried to convince myself of. I tended not to get myself involved in things like crushes and affections because those things only led to love, and from my experience love only winded up hurting you in the end.

Once we got inside, it was fairly easy to find our way around. I'd been to Twilight Cinema plenty of times before. Zexion and I used to go every weekend back when we were still teenagers. We both wanted to get out of our houses and were willing to do just about anything. It was my idea to see a movie one weekend, and somehow it became like a weekly ritual for us. Pick out a movie, preferably one that was really bad so we could tear it apart, sneak in a bag of malted milk balls and sit in the very back row so we wouldn't disturb anyone. We tended to talk throughout movies and laugh at the most inappropriate moments, so it was lucky for us that the majority of the time the theater would be half empty. Considering the movies we chose to see, it wasn't that big of a surprise.

I don't remember exactly when we stopped going, but it was sometime after we moved in together as roommates. I guess being free of our old homes made it feel like we didn't need to run away somewhere else to get away from it all. I'd never really thought too much of it before, but walking into the building after all those years, I realized I really missed the times that Zexion I had there and the way we used to feel like nothing could touch us as long as we were in the back of the theater being crazy together.

Despite my being there half a million times before, I still wasn't sure where the actual premiere was taking place. I never thought I'd ever have a reason to be in that particular theater, so I hadn't bothered to figure out where exactly it was. I wasn't the only one in our group who was completely clueless as to where we were supposed to be, so after a few minutes of looking on our own, Yuffie insisted that we ask for help. Why is it that men always have a hard time asking for directions? If it wasn't for Yuffie, the rest of us would have probably been searching on our own until the movie was half over.

Thanks to the female presence in our group, we made it to the theater and the private box with time to spare. We were all introduced, formally, to Sora and the rest of the gang. From the calmness we were exuding on the outside you would have thought it was a normal thing for us to be hobnobbing with celebrities. I wasn't really that affected. Ok, sure, I was still a tad bit intimidated by the way every single one of them was so incredibly good looking, but the fact that they were famous didn't faze me in the least. I'd never even heard of them until a few days before. And even if I had, people are just people to me. I didn't see the need to get worked up. That's not to say I wasn't surprised that I was actually hanging out with them or that they wanted to be around me.

Zexion was composed as ever. I didn't expect anything less from him. If he had reacted any differently I would have been worried. Demyx, having already met everyone the other day, was pretty serene considering how spastic he could get over things. Even Yuffie was keeping herself together somehow. Though, I didn't miss the slight shakiness in her voice as she said her greetings and slipped a bit of her fangirly ways in by telling Riku how gorgeous he was. I rolled my eyes. Not because she was wrong, but because I figured compliments to him were what air was to normal people. He lived off of them.

As everyone was taking their seats, I just happened to notice that Roxas was sitting in the back row all by his lonesome. Actually, I'd been looking at the boy ever since we'd arrived, but that makes me sound kind of creepy. I stood behind all of my friends deliberately so they would have to fill up the first two rows and I would be forced to take a seat in the last one. It was a carefully laid out plan, which I had cooked up in the short few minutes we'd been standing there, until Demyx interfered.

"Hey, you can sit here." My co-worker stopped me in my tracks just as I was heading to the back. He motioned to the last empty seat in the second row. "I figured you'd want to sit with Zexion."

How the hell was I supposed to respond to that? It's not like I could come right out and say, _'no, I want to sit next to Roxas because I'm kind of, sort of obsessed with him_.' Well, technically, I could have, but that would have made me look like some kind of freak. Zexion would understand, so that wasn't my problem, but there were a few other pairs of eyes staring at me in anticipation, waiting for me to make my move. I quickly chanced a glance at Roxas, but he was completely oblivious to everything going on except the previews on the screen.

I finally looked at my best friend, hoping that over the years we had formed some kind of bond that would allow us to communicate through our minds. He stared at me for a few excruciatingly awkward seconds, and I almost thought I was going to have to just give up, but then his eyes narrowed just the slightest bit and I saw the understanding rush over his face.

"No," he said firmly as he grabbed one of Demyx's wrists and pulled him down to sit in the empty seat. The blond yelped in surprise, but my roommate kept talking, "I want you to sit here."

Demyx didn't say anything. He jsut nodded his head frantically, and I got the feeling he would do just about anything Zexion asked him to do. Too bad my best friend had no idea about what he'd just done to the poor blond. He'd gone and given him hope.

I don't know how or when Demyx had formed his little schoolgirl crush on my roommate. They'd only been in the vicinity of each other maybe five times tops. And minus the one time that Zexion visited the bakery when Demyx had that sugar high, they'd hardly ever spoken.

My co-worker never actually spoke of his attraction to Zexion, but you'd have to be completely unaware of other people's behavior and actions not to notice. That's probably why I was the only one who saw it. I studied people when I talked to them, tried to get inside their minds and find out what was really going on in there behind what they were showing the world on the outside. My best friend was not one of those kinds of people, therefore, he was completely unaware of the affect he had on Demyx.

"Hey, you can have my seat." I turned to see Sora standing up from his seat in the front row. Damn the kid for being so nice.

"No, it's ok."

"C'mon, I insist. I mean, I already know what the movie is about and everything because, well, I was in it." He laughed and smiled at me, and it was so damn sincere that I almost didn't have the heart to turn him down. But one look into his blue eyes and my thoughts were drawn right back to his younger brother.

"No, really, I'm fine. This is your premiere and everything…I mean…I don't want to…like…intrude…or whatever." I tried to sound firm, but my ability to form coherent sentences while desperately trying to get out of the situation at hand was non-existent.

Sora just waved me off. "I've been to dozens of these things. Trust me, it's no big deal."

I glanced over at Roxas only to find him staring right back at me, so I quickly averted my gaze. "No, I'm good. I don't mind sitting in the back."

Silence.

Sora regarded me strangely while the rest of everyone pretty much did the same. "Ok…if that's what you want." He turned to look at Roxas for a moment then sat down slowly, all the while still looking at me. Eventually, he took his eyes off of me and everyone else followed suit.

When the individual conversations started and I was sure I was free from any curious looks, I walked the few short feet to the back row. Roxas was sitting in the seat against the wall, the one farthest from the entrance. One of his elbows was leaning on the armrest and his head was resting in his hand. He didn't pay me the slightest bit of attention even though I knew he'd just heard everything that went on.

Dealing with Roxas, I figured, was a delicate thing. He seemed like the kind of person that would bite your head off if you made the wrong move. Like the time I tried to compliment him and only succeeded in pissing him off. My first major decision was trying to decide which seat to sit in. But to be honest, I didn't really think about it too hard because I knew I was going to sit right next to him no matter how he reacted.

I made my way past the other seats in the small row and stopped when I was right next to the blond. "Is this seat taken?"

"Yes." He didn't even look up as he said it.

Why was his snippiness so endearing to me? Despite the obvious fact that he didn't want me there, I sat down in the seat next to him, anyway. He scooted over as far as he could to put some distance in between us. It was funny how the more he acted like he didn't give a crap about me, the more I wanted to know everything about him. I had some clear masochistic tendencies.

"So I take it you don't like me very much?"

"It's amazing how perceptive you are." He still never bothered to look my way, but I didn't let that hinder me.

"Why yes, I am pretty amazing and perceptive," I replied. "And it's touching to know that you care enough about me to observe my behavior."

He finally looked at me. I noticed the corner of his mouth turn up slightly, but I was too busy being sucked into the clear, blue color of his eyes to pay much attention to anything else. "Or maybe you're just so pushy and overbearing that I couldn't help but notice."

It was silent between us for a few moments. The previews on the screen and the idle chatter in the background were the only noises I could hear. Those, and the sound of my heart beating in my ears. Roxas was just staring at me like he was waiting for some kind of witty response. And I tried. I really did, but the best I could come up with was, "Ok."

He looked at me quietly for a few more seconds. The expression on his face never altered. "What's your name?"

"My name? Didn't Sora tell you that?"

"He probably did but I guess I wasn't paying attention." A small smirk danced on his lips, and it was the closet thing to a real smile I'd seen from him. "I only pay attention to things I actually care about."

"Is that so?" I shifted in my seat so I could face him. "Then why do you care about what my name is now?"

"I didn't say I cared!" He was quick to defend himself, and suddenly I felt like I had the upper hand again. "I just thought since you like to be all up in my space all the time I should at least know the name of the person I'm telling off."

"How can I be in your space all the time when I've only talked to you once before tonight?" I laughed. "I think you're imagining things, which would imply that I'm on your mind quite a bit."

He scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest. "You wish."

"Maybe I do." I said it teasingly, but a part of me was actually serious. "My name's Axel. Think you can remember that?"

Roxas rolled his eyes and turned back around to face the front once again. I wasn't about to let him off the hook that easily. "What's your name?"

That brought his full attention back to me, and he gave me a skeptical look when I didn't say anything else. I knew that would baffle him. Of course, I already knew his name, but I wanted to hear it from him. I wanted it to be like we were meeting for the first time, like normal people. Maybe it was a little odd, or maybe it was completely stupid, but I just felt like introducing ourselves would give us a new start. Our first meeting wasn't exactly picture perfect.

"You already know my name!"

"Yea, but I want to hear it from you."

His brow furrowed at first and he looked down at his fidgeting hands like he was thinking about something intently. When he lifted his head back up to look at me a few seconds later, his face softened, and I almost felt like I wasn't going to be able to hold a conversation anymore. Why did he have that kind of effect on me?

"Roxas," He replied to my question that I'd almost forgotten I even asked.

The previews were over, the movie was finally starting, and quite frankly, I was a bit relieved that I wasn't going to get the chance to make an idiot out of myself by not having anything to say.

I'd like to say that I thought the movie was awesome and I enjoyed every minute of it. But, honestly, I'd hardly even paid attention to what was happening on the screen. Oh, I caught little bits and pieces here or there, but for the most part my mind was a million miles away. And whenever I thought he was completely transfixed on the screen in front of him, I looked at Roxas. Not for very long and only for a couple seconds each time, but I probably glanced at him over a hundred times during the course of that two hour period. I like to think that I wasn't being creepy or anything.

After the movie, we all walked out into the hall. I was getting ready to say goodbye to everyone until I found out that there were other plans in the making.

"Uh…we're going out to a club tonight," Sora addressed my friends and me. "It's called Destiny. I don't know if you've ever heard of it, but its pretty fun. I mean, we go there all the time."

"Yea, you guys should totally come!" Kairi piped up as she leaned into the brunette.

"I'm game!" Yuffie was the first to speak up. I knew there was no way she would pass up the chance to spend even more time in Sora and Riku's presence.

I turned my attention to Roxas and noticed he was looking at me. The expression on his face seemed kind of hopeful and I'd never seen him look like that before.

"Yea, yea we'll go," I said it without even thinking or taking my eyes off of the short blond.

"Cool!" Sora sounded excited about it. "We're gonna get changed because, well…" he pulled at his tuxedo jacket. "We can't go dressed like this."

"We could, but we'd look like freaks," Riku added in, and Sora shot him an annoyed look.

"The point is," Cloud decided to take reign of the conversation, "we're going to go get changed and we'll meet you all at the back entrance."

"We have a limo there," Kadaj explained. "We're going to try and make it out of here without any paparazzi catching on and following us."

My friends and I just nodded in response. Their lives sounded like something straight out of a movie. Sneaking out of the back entrance and racing off into the night. It was all so enthralling.

After Sora and company turned to leave and were half way down the hall, Zexion pulled on my shirt. "You know clubs aren't my kind of scene."

"Zexion, seriously, how many times are we going to get a chance like this?"

My best friend, as much as I loved him, was kind of a boring homebody. Instead of going out and partying the night away, he preferred to stay at home and read a book or something equally as dull. Granted, I never went out either. But that was because Zexion and I were pretty much attached at the hip and he was my only real friend. That's not to say I would pass up a chance to have some fun if I ever got one. And the both of us were getting the chance right there.

"Yea, don't be such a stick in the mud!" Yuffie ran and made a flying leap for my friend's back, catching him off guard when she latched onto him and starting a very interesting chain of events. The girl definitely underestimated her strength sometimes.

As things started to go south, Yuffie, being the insane ninja that she was, landed on her feet like a cat, but Zexion wasn't quite so lucky. Everything happened so fast that I didn't even grasp what was going on at the time. Somehow in the process of falling backwards Zexion had desperately tried to grab on to something to keep himself on his feet. That something just so happened to be Demyx, When my best friend grabbed the blond, he hadn't been expecting it at all, so the both of them went flying to the floor in a blur of shouts and wildly thrashing limbs and landed on the floor with a thud.

They laid there, all sprawled out on the ground, Demyx on top of Zexion, and both of them practically face to face for a while. Finally, Yuffie broke the silence with her thunderous cackling.

"Oh my God!" She grabbed her stomach and tried to speak over her laughter. "That was so hilarious. You guys planned that out right? I mean, things like that don't actually happen in real life."

I tried to keep my chuckling to a minimum, but it was pretty difficult. Zexion, who was in the process of pulling himself out from under a slightly shell-shocked Demyx, was glaring at both Yuffie and me.

"Well, to be fair," I reached my hand out to help my roommate up, "this whole day has been kind of weird and so unlike real life."

"Can we just go?" Zexion asked while he dusted himself off.

"Oh, so now you wanna go?" Yuffie bounced over to the man who was scowling at her.

I noticed Demyx still sitting on the floor, looking like he was off on another planet. I guess falling on top of the object of your affection like that can make you lose all contact with reality for a while. Although, I don't think losing contact with reality was all that unfamiliar a feeling for my co-worker.

After I helped him up off the floor, which took a bit more attention and strength then I would have thought, we finally made our way to the back of the theater. By the time we got there, we were greeted again by the rest of the group. They had all changed into clothes more appropriate for a night out on the town. Kairi and Naminé were actually dressed more appropriately for a night out working the corner, but I digress.

As we all piled into the limo, I realized it was clearly going to be a tight fit. The limo was a bit smaller than some others I'd seen. There wasn't really enough room for everyone to have their own seat, so the girls resigned to sitting on people's laps, which I'm sure they were more than happy to do. Yuffie sort of just flopped herself on top of Zexion and me, Kairi was on top of Sora, and Naminé was sitting on Roxas' lap. She had her arms around his neck and was giggling annoyingly in his ear. For some reason, the whole scene made me feel uneasy, and I couldn't take my eyes off of them for the whole ride.

* * *

When we arrived at Destiny we, of course, didn't have to wait in line. We just bypassed everyone, and they didn't even bother to check our IDs at the door. As we walked by the long line of people waiting to get in, I heard a few giggles and whispers, but mostly everything remained calm.

I'd never been to a club before, as pathetic as that may sound. I'd seen them on TV, like on those horrible reality shows. You know, the kind where it's similar to watching a train wreck but you can't look away, where people go out and party every night like getting hammered is imperative to their existence. Yea, that was my only experience with clubs. So walking into Destiny that night was exciting.

The first thing I noticed when walking through the entrance was the loud, electrifying music reverberating all around the walls and inside my head. The whole place was dimply lit and mostly dark except for the flashing, colorful lights. There were people in the middle of the floor all crowded together and dancing wildly while others were lingering on the sidelines or sitting around tables that were set up in the back. There was a bar directly to the right of the entrance that was already full of people ready to drink themselves stupid.

Once inside, the club-goers seemed to mind their own business and didn't really pay much attention to Sora, Roxas, and the rest. There were a few wide-eyed stares when they walked by, but that's as far as the attention went. The bouncers placed around the club assured me that if anything were to go awry, things would be taken care of immediately.

Zexion told me he was just going to take a seat in the back somewhere, and Demyx ran after to join him. Kairi and Naminé dragged Sora and Riku out to the dance floor and Cloud, Kadaj, and Yuffie joined in, as well. That left Roxas.

I spotted him taking a seat at the bar, already ordering a drink from the bartender. I walked over and sat on the stool next to him. I faced the dance floor, leaning my elbows back against the bars surface. I slanted my head slightly so I could get a look at him as he tipped his head back and poured the contents of the shot glass down his throat.

"Aren't you a little too young to be drinking?"

"Another one, please," he addressed the bartender before looking my way. "You think anyone is actually going to tell me no? Why do you care, anyway?"

"I guess you're right." He had a good point. Being famous did seem to help you get away with a lot of things. I deliberately chose not to answer his second question because if I answered honestly I would have had to admit to myself that I cared about him. And I just wasn't ready for that.

The bartender came back and handed Roxas another drink. "Aren't you going to have something," the blond asked me.

"Can I get a bourbon on the rocks," I asked the guy, and he nodded in response.

Roxas downed his second drink almost as soon as he got it. "Another for me too."

"You're gonna get yourself completely trashed drinking like that," I informed him.

"What do you think I'm trying to do?"

I could tell that he wasn't joking by the tone of his voice and the serious expression on his face. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little confused and concerned, for that matter. I couldn't figure Roxas out no matter how hard I tried. Everything he did was a mystery to me. Every move he made, every word out of his mouth was like an intricate puzzle that I just couldn't put together. I was missing too many of the pieces.

"Why?"

Before he answered me, the bartender came back and gave us our drinks. Roxas didn't waste any time in emptying the glass and asking for another one even before I took the first sip of mine. It was a bit worrisome watching what he was doing. I was thinking about saying something, but I was interrupted by Sora as he walked over to us. Roxas received another drink, and Sora grimaced when he saw his brother down it all at once.

"I don't think you should be drinking like that, Roxas." He cut his sibling off before he could ask for another one.

"Why? Because it'll look bad in the papers if the paparazzi happen to catch me shitfaced?" He laughed, but it was laced with such sarcasm and bitterness that it hardly sounded like a laugh at all.

"No, because it's not good to drink that much." I watched as Sora gently placed his hand on his brother's forearm. Roxas still refused to meet his gaze.

"Whatever," The younger sibling said flippantly and tried to get the bartender's attention.

"Look, it's just not a good idea." Sora glared at the bartender, and the guy walked away with his tail between his legs. "So stop, ok?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, but he didn't make any attempt at getting another drink. I had no idea what I was witnessing, but I kind of felt like I shouldn't have been listening in the first place.

"Roxy!"

The voice and nickname stirred something inside of me, and I resisted the urge to gag. Naminé ran up to Roxas and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Hi, Naminé." He didn't really seem too fazed by her.

"Come dance with me, Roxy!" She leaned into his back and squeezed his waist tighter. "I won't take no for an answer."

The boy sighed but allowed himself to be pulled off the stool and dragged across the floor by the girl. As crazy as it sounds, I felt like something was being stolen from me. I knew I was being ridiculous. I hardly knew Roxas. We'd only spoken a few meaningless words to each other, and there I was acting like he was all mine and no one else could have him. As soon as I thought about the way I was feeling, I was embarrassed for myself and eternally grateful that my internal thoughts were just that; internal.

I noticed that Sora had taken the seat Roxas previously occupied. He was looking out towards the dance floor, and I noted the look of concern that was marring his usually cheerful features. He apparently saw my staring because he turned to look at me and gave a small, reassuring smile. I wanted to ask a lot of questions, but I figured I'd start out with something light.

"So, Kairi," I began as I found the girl out on the dance floor. She was pressed back up against Riku with her arms wrapped around his neck. The boy had his hands on her waist. They were doing some pretty provocative dancing, and it was hard to look away. Sora raised his brows, waiting for me to continue. "You two have something going on?"

His face scrunched up into something resembling disgust. "Are you serious? She's my best friend."

"How about Naminé?"

"I think you can see for yourself that she has the hots for my brother." Sora gestured to the dance floor.

That was obvious enough. My gaze rested on the two blonds in the middle of the floor. The girl had her hands all over Roxas and was grinding up against him in a way that made me feel slightly sick to my stomach. He didn't look like he was completely enjoying himself, but he didn't look totally put off either. I had a hard time figuring out what went on inside of his head.

"So, I guess the rumors aren't true?"

Sora scoffed. "Of course not, they hardly ever are."

To be honest I didn't give a rat's ass about the rumors, but it was the only subject I could think of to break the ice. "So, does Roxas drink like that often?" It was a bold question to ask someone I barely knew, and I was half expecting the brunette to tell me it was none of my business and get up and leave.

"No." He exhaled and looked at his brother. "He just…"

"He just what?" I prodded when him to finish his thoughts. For a second there he looked like he was about to spill his guts out, and I thought finding out about Roxas was going to be easier than it seemed. But I was wrong.

"Look, Axel," Sora said as he turned to face me again. "I think you're a pretty cool guy and all, but I really don't think I should be talking about my brother behind his back. He'd probably get pretty pissed at me and—"

I cut him off. "Yea, I understand. I was being too nosy" I laughed at myself. "I can get that way sometimes."

In reality, I never pried for details about people until Roxas came along. But it's not like I was going to confess that right there. I could just see how that would go. '_Yea, actually I'm just crazily obsessed with your brother for some reason, and I'm probably about two seconds away from becoming a stalker'_ That would get me nowhere.

"When I talked to Roxas during the party at your parents' house—"

"You talked to him that night?" Sora sounded a bit shocked, and I nodded in response. "He never mentioned anything about that." I saw the beginnings of a pout forming on his lips.

"It wasn't a big deal, anyway. We didn't really say much. But he did mention that he doesn't live there anymore." I deliberately left out the detail about him looking like he wanted to see me dead after I kindly complimented him.

"Yea, he and I share a condo together," Sora informed me. "I'm hardly ever there, though, so he's pretty much alone there most of the time."

I figured as much. Sora had to be busy constantly with all his movies, photoshoots and public appearances. It was a wonder he even had any free time to be at the club that night.

"It was my place first, but he moved in with me after he turned eighteen." He asked the bartender for a martini, and that reminded me about the drink in my hands, so I took a sip. "Enough about us, what about you?"

"What about me?" I was actually kind of surprised that he even wanted to know anything about me. "Why did you invite Demyx and me to the movie premiere in the first place?"

A genuine smile crossed Sora's face, and it was so infectious that I couldn't help smiling myself. I wondered what it would be like to see Roxas grinning like that, no false pretenses, no hidden sadness, just a pure, real smile. I assumed it would be like witnessing a miracle, and the thought made me giddier than I like to admit. I was not a corny person by nature, but ever since I'd come in contact with that short blond, I realized my thoughts were becoming a lot more unlike my own and more like some lovesick puppy.

"You impressed me. You impressed all of us, actually," Sora spoke up as he shook his glass a little to stir the drink. "It's not everyday that someone has the guts to turn down Riku. He has a bit of a diva complex sometimes."

That was not hard to believe at all. I couldn't blame him too much, though. If I had been born with looks and talent like him, who knows how I would be acting.

"So, what's the story behind those?" Sora pointed to my cheek. It took me a few seconds to realize he was talking about my tattoos. I'd become so used to them I pretty much forgot that they were there most of the time. It's like they were just a part of me, and I never gave them much thought.

"Uh…well, I got them when I was eighteen. That was…um…five years ago." That was the truth. I got them a few months after I moved out of my house. "There really is no story behind them. I just thought they looked cool." That was a lie, but the only person other than me who knew the reason behind my tattoos was Zexion, and that was only because he was my best friend and he basically knew everything about me. I didn't feel comfortable letting other people in on the reason. Secrets were secrets for a reason, after all.

Sora looked at me curiously for a few seconds then shrugged. "That's cool." He set his empty glass down on the bar's surface and hopped off the stool. His demeanor was once again cheery, and I felt relieved. I came to the conclusion that a sad Sora was one of the worst things in the world. It was like wearing a sweater to the beach, like putting pickles in your ice cream. It was just wrong. "It was nice talking to you and all, but I think I better go Save Riku from Kairi." The two of them were still going at it on the dance floor. Somehow, I doubted that Riku wanted to be saved. He looked to be thoroughly enjoying himself.

After Sora ran off and left me alone at the bar, I had nothing to do but torture myself by looking at Naminé and Roxas. The girl was pretty much using him as her own personal stripper pole. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop watching them. Watching the way her small hands slid down his chest in a seductive fashion and the way she'd dip down slowly so her face was level with his crotch for a few seconds before sliding back up, an impish smile playing on her lips the whole time. The way Roxas would let his hands run over the girl's waist when she would turn around and grind herself against him. The expression of pleasure on his face every time she would press her body against his in a certain way and whisper something in his ear.

It was enough to make me sick, and it didn't help that the music seemed to have gotten even louder and was making it hard for me to think. It didn't help that the few sips of alcohol I drank felt like acid that was burning a hole in my throat and stomach. The lights were flashing in my eyes, and I felt like I was going crazy. I knew I needed to get away from there and pry my eyes off of the dance floor.

I decided to go and find Zexion. At least with him I knew everything would be alright and normal like it always was. I loved my friend for being able to make me feel safe by just being around him.

I found him and Demyx at a table in the back. My roommate was just sitting there, letting the blond do all the talking and looking bored out of his mind. It was almost exactly what I expected. When I walked up to the table he looked at me like I was some kind of savior.

"What's up?" I asked, trying to sound like I hadn't just witnessed something horrifying.

"Absolutely nothing," Zexion responded, and I noticed Demyx cringe a little at his words. "To think I could be at home right now, comfortable and curled up on the couch with a good book."

"Yea, but would that book buy you dinner, kiss you goodnight and keep you warm on those cold, lonely nights like Demyx here would?" It felt good to know that even when I was shaken I still held the ability to joke and spew out witty comments. After the amusement in myself wore off, I realized exactly what I'd said.

The awkwardness was radiating all around us, and the silence from our table seemed to cancel out the loud voices and music sounding out around the club. Demyx was looking exceedingly uncomfortable as he desperately tried to find somewhere else to rest his gaze besides on my roommate. Zexion was just looking at me, unfazed as he usually was. How could I have forgotten that Demyx's crush on my roommate was a secret? A secret that my co-worker probably thought I didn't even know about. While wallowing in my own self-pity, I'd forgotten when to keep my mouth shut.

I forced myself to laugh. It came out sounding incredibly fake, but I pressed on anyways. "I was joking. You know, like, 'haha funny'. Jeez, why are you guys so boring?"

Somehow, my lame response seemed to lighten up the mood and Demyx was once again back to his talkative self. I spent at least an hour and a half sitting there and talking about random stuff with my friends. Mostly it was just Demyx and I doing the talking while Zexion piped up occasionally with a few comments. Although sitting there with my friends helped to take my mind off the Roxas and Namine situation, it didn't stop me from glancing over at the dance floor occasionally. It was next to impossible to find anyone in the crowd from where I was sitting, though, and I was glad for that.

Eventually, I saw Yuffie squeezing her way through the mass of bodies. She shoved a couple people and sent them flying into others and even stepped on a few feet to make it through. When she finally made it out, it looked like she had hardly even broken a sweat. I wasn't too surprised. Physical force was nothing to the small, raven-haired girl.

"Where have you been all night?" I sent an accusing stare the girls' way and pulled a chair out to offer her a seat.

"Dancing," she replied simply and shook her head to deny the seat. "While you three losers sat on the sidelines like a group of nerds at the prom, I was out there having fun like everyone else."

"I'm guessing you're here for an actual reason and not just to insult us?" I teased her.

"Yea." She lowered her voice suspiciously and leaned over the table. "We're about to leave." She looked back over her shoulder, and I followed her gaze. I could see the group standing over by the door and Kairi practically unable to stand on her own two feet. "Kairi's pretty drunk."

Actually, Kairi had surpassed drunk a long time ago and was well on her way to being totally and completely hammered. When we made our way over to the others, the auburn haired girl was laughing hysterically and spouting off some kind of nonsense while she grabbed onto Sora's shirt. Cloud gave us an apologetic look as we started to walk to the door. Sora and Riku both had their arms firmly around the drunk girl to help her walk.

"Looks like I'm not the one who's going to be in the tabloids next week."

I didn't even realize that Roxas was by my side until I heard his voice. But by the time I turned to look at him, he was already walking ahead of me and towards the exit.

When we got outside it was nothing like when we'd first arrived. Apparently, the paparazzi had found out exactly where Sora and company were, and they were crouching like lions behind tall blades of grass, waiting to pounce on their helpless prey. The camera flashes were going off like crazy, and we were surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of people. Tons of different voices were all shouting out and asking questions. I stayed at the back with the rest of my non-famous friends, and even back there I was starting to feel suffocated.

We were moving along through the hoard of people, slowly but surely. I instinctively grabbed onto Yuffie's wrist so we wouldn't get separated. I knew she had the strength of five body builders and could take care of herself, but I couldn't help but feel protective of her. I made sure Demyx and Zexion were still following before trying to move forward again.

Cloud and Kadaj were at the front, trying to push through and make a path for Sora and Riku to drag Kairi. The girl was beginning to look wearier and wearier as time went on. Naminé and Roxas were right in front of me. The girl had her hands clutched around his arm. I couldn't help but think she was holding on a little too tight and standing a little too close to him. It's not like putting an inch of space between them would have killed her.

Suddenly, we stopped moving completely. The paparazzi backed off a little to give us space, and it was such a relief to finally feel like I could take a breath of fresh air. That's when I noticed that Kairi was on the ground puking her guts out. Despite pulling back slightly, the men never once stopped taking their pictures. I'm sure they were practically shitting themselves over a photo opportunity like that one. Kairi Faber bent over, face in the dirt, drunk as hell and losing the contents of her stomach. Sora was knelt down next to her, pulling her hair out of her face and rubbing her back gently.

When she was finally able to get up and was lifted off the ground, I could see the tears falling and the mascara running down her checks. Even still, the cameras never stopped flashing. They didn't care about her humiliation or the fact that she was just a young girl. All they cared about was getting paid. It made me feel angry, but there was nothing I could do about it.

I'd never realized how out of control things could get until I experienced it first hand. It was a wonder to me that Sora and the rest of his friends were able to keep such level heads with all the chaos that surrounded them. It was the first time I'd ever experienced anything as intense as that, and I already felt like I'd never be able to cope with it. It made me respect them even more knowing everything they had to go through, knowing that despite being pretty awesome, their lives weren't all sunshine and rainbows, and they had to deal with some pretty hard things just like the rest of us.

* * *

**I had this chapter all written out then I felt like it wasn't as good as it could have been so I went back and altered it a bit.**

**I appreciate every single favorite, alert and review. They help to motivate me when I'm in need of motivation.**

**I've been feeling kind of discouraged with this story and my writing in general lately so if you guys let me know how I'm doing that would be awesome! Thanks!**

**:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"So, when did you two start hanging out with celebrities?" Larxene interrupted what _was_ a peaceful silence with her obnoxious voice. "And you didn't even think to invite me along? I'm hurt."

I licked a bit of frosting off of my finger before answering. "What are you talking about, Larxene? Did you forget to take your meds today?"

That elicited a couple laughs from Marluxia and Demyx. My boss was busying himself with whatever it was he did everyday. Cutting stems off of flowers, arranging them, whatever. It didn't matter much to me. Demyx was spreading some frosting on a cake, but his giggles were hindering his decorating abilities quite a bit.

"Very funny, and if we weren't at work right now I'd be handing you your balls in a zip lock bag," Larxene sneered my way.

"Like I would ever willingly see you outside of work." I let out a loud chuckle and grabbed the cupcake I was picking at. I'd specifically chosen one with blue frosting. "Talk about a frickin' nightmare."

Larxene fixed me with a challenging stare like she did practically every day. The grin on her face became even more sinister as she grabbed the magazine she was leafing through and started on her way over to where I was sitting behind the counter. I sighed dramatically and sat up from my slouching position so I could see exactly what it was she was going to show me that time. Demyx abandoned the cake and came over to stand next to me.

"Maybe you guys should just get back to work?" Marluxia suggested, but from the tone of his voice I could tell he didn't really care much either way. He was that way, acting like he cared just to put out the image that he was an authority figure. He still had authority over us, being our boss and all, but he liked to pretend that he enforced rules more than he actually did for some reason.

"But I have something very interesting here," Larxene stated as she waved the magazine in her hands like it was a flag.

Marluxia's face lit up with amusement. He set down what he was doing and leaned against the counter, waiting for whatever the crazy woman had planned. "Carry on, then."

"You see, as much as sweet little Demyx," She rested her eyes on the blond and he shrunk a little under her stare, "and stupid ol' Axel like to deny their involvement with Sora and his friends, I have proof of just the opposite."

"Oh, really?" I decided to play along with her little game. "What kind of proof could you possibly have?"

"This." She slapped the magazine down on the counter, and I watched her grin widen before slowly lowering my head.

When I looked at the cover of the magazine, the first thing I noticed was Kairi, bent over and throwing up. The angle in which the picture was taken was not flattering at all and you could see right up her skirt. Of course they would use a photo like that, but I still didn't see how that proved anything about Demyx and I being there. I looked at my co-worker, and he seemed just as confused as I was.

Larxene rolled her eyes at us. "Behind Kairi Faber's crotch, right there in the background…"

I stopped paying attention to her and picked up the magazine to see it closer. Demyx was practically sitting on my shoulder, trying to get a good look. As soon as I tore my eyes away from Kairi, sure enough, there was Demyx, Zexion, Yuffie, and I standing in the background. Sure, any random person who happened to pick up the magazine would never be able to tell who we were. Though, I doubt with a clear view up Kairi's skirt many people were looking anywhere else. To anyone that knew us, though, it was clear as day. There was no use in denying it anymore.

"It was a one time thing."

That was the most truthful thing I'd said since the conversation started. It had been exactly a week and a day since the movie premiere and club incident. My friends and I hadn't seen Sora or the others, let alone talked to them, since then. It wasn't like I expected them to really want to hang out with us, but I will admit a part of me was hopeful. I hoped that I would have had some kind of effect on Roxas and he would want to know as much about me as I did about him, that he would show up at my apartment one day and invite me on another star-studded outing, and we would all become best friends and my life would never be the same again. But that was just wishful thinking.

I knew that reality could be a cruel thing, and my reality, unfortunately, was Roxas-less and not all that exciting. During the week after the night out with Roxas and company, the most exciting thing I'd done was learn to make scrambled eggs without burning my apartment complex to the ground. That was my life in a nutshell, pretty much. I'd never even bothered to question my mundane existence before, but all of a sudden I was starting to miss the so-called high-life.

So, I'd never _actually_ experienced the high-life, but I'd been pretty damn close, and it felt good. I could only imagine all the things that Sora and Roxas got to experience, besides the bad stuff like the paparazzi and lack of privacy. Going to parties, hitting the clubs, staying in extravagant hotels, traveling the world, never having a limit to what they could do, it was all so fascinating to me. I'd never even been out of Radiant Garden. Can you imagine that? Twenty-three years old and never once had I stepped foot out of the place I was born in.

It didn't matter because I decided that the whole experience of hanging out with celebrities was done and over with. I was going to go back to my normal, simple life and be content just like I was before. I figured it was probably better that way. I was getting too involved and interested in Roxas, and the last thing I needed was to start developing feelings for him. Although, if I'd been truly honest with myself I would have known it was a little too late for that.

"So you admit it?"

The voice brought me out of my thoughts. I looked up to see Larxene still staring at me, and I could see Marluxia out of the corner of my eye, waiting patiently for a response. He could pretend like he didn't care about my playful arguments and altercations with the blonde girl, but I saw right through him.

"Yea, but it's not like we're friends with them or anything." I threw the magazine at her, and she caught it with her cat like reflexes. "Demyx will tell you the same thing; we haven't had contact with Sora or any of the rest of his friends since last Saturday."

"That's true!" Demyx finally decided to make his presence known, but it was futile because no one paid attention to him. I was the focus of Larxene's taunting.

"I find that hard to believe." The girl eyed my co-worker and me suspiciously. "But what I find even harder to believe is that people as famous as them would want to hang out with a couple of losers like you." She turned to Marluxia, and despite him hanging his head to try and cover his reaction, I knew he was laughing. It was on!

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were either one of you." They both stopped and looked at me. When neither one bothered to say anything, I carried on. "I didn't see either one of you invited to a movie premiere or invited to sit with Sora Strife in his personal box. You also weren't asked by him personally to join him and his friends at club Destiny, so I'd say the two losers here are you guys."

Marluxia laughed quietly and went back to his flower arranging while Larxene just stood there, unmoving and blinking. I knew I'd won, but I also knew it wasn't over. My battles with the girl went on forever. They were never-ending, and I liked it that way. The day that I walked into work and Larxene didn't have a snide comment for me, would be the day I probably would have considered quitting. I'd grown quite accustomed to her abuse. It was part of the daily routine, and it kept me on my feet.

Larxene only walked away when the bell above the entrance chimed, signaling the arrival of a customer. A guy in a black hoodie entered the bakery. He was short and puny, and the jacket he was wearing was twice his size. Besides looking completely shady, he seemed kind of fidgety and kept looking around the place like he was expecting someone to be there, or he was hoping someone wouldn't be there. My first thought was that he was some kind of crack head who happened to wander into the bakery by mistake. No matter what his problem was, his behavior was all kinds of strange. All four of us traded cautious glances before Marluxia decided to step up and take one for the team.

"Can I help you?" It was funny watching a man of Marluxia's size act cautious, guarded and a bit afraid in front of someone who barely even reached his waist.

"Yea, actually," the mysterious guy responded, lifting his hands to pull back the hood covering his face, "I'm here to talk to Axel."

The spiky, brunette hair and big, blue eyes were unmistakable. Sora Strife was standing right in the middle of the bakery, wanting to talk to me. So much for never talking to him again. I made a point to look over at Larxene before I addressed the boy. She looked taken aback for a second before falling right back into character and leering at me "Why do you want to talk to me? And how did you even get here without anyone noticing?"

Sora stepped forward. "After years of practice you get the hang of evading the paparazzi. And I want to talk to you because I have something to ask." He looked back over his shoulder at the door. "You guys don't expect many customers right now, do you?"

"No, its pretty dead during this time of day, so don't worry your pretty, little head about it," Larxene answered somewhat condescendingly, but either it went right over Sora's head or he just chose not to let it get to him.

The brunette politely nodded before focusing his attention back on me. "Anyway, I wanted to ask if you wanted to come to this Halloween party my parents are having at their house tomorrow." He looked at Demyx. "You, too. And your other friends, as well. Yuffie hit it off quite well with Cloud and Kadaj the other night."

That was news to me. Yuffie hadn't even spoken one word about Cloud or Kadaj. She was going to have some serious explaining to do when I saw her.

"Are you sure that's ok," Demyx questioned as he tried to focus his attention on decorating the cake again. "I mean, are you sure your parents don't mind random people going to their party?"

"Trust me, they don't care," Sora assured us. "Any friends of mine are welcome."

Friends. He just called us his friends. Being friends with Sora was one step closer to being friends with Roxas, which was one step closer to…to what? What was it that I wanted to happen between Roxas and me, exactly? I wasn't sure.

"I just think it would be cool if you guys could come." Sora regarded one of the tables, which was painted up to look like a mushroom, oddly for a moment before leaning against it. "Plus, Roxas would like for you to be there."

He was looking directly at me when he said it, and I was frozen. Roxas wanted me to be at his parents' party, which meant he was thinking about me. For some reason, hearing that made me feel like I could fly.

"He wants _me_…to be there?" I tried to act nonchalant.

"Ah, well…" Sora gave a sheepish smile. "…he didn't really say he wants you to be there...exactly. Well, he didn't use those exact words."

"Then what, exactly, did he say?"

"He said that you are an annoying douche bag who doesn't know the meaning of personal space."

I felt like I'd been shot down out of the sky. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't quite sound like he wants me to be there at all." Despite the harshness of the words, I couldn't help but laugh to myself as I imagined them coming out of the blond's mouth.

"It was the way he said it, though." Sora was quick to speak up. I got the feeling that he didn't like saying mean things to other people or hurting their feelings, even if they weren't his words in the first place. "Like, I don't know how to explain this. You'd probably have to really know him to get what I'm saying."

"Try me." I was fully interested in anything he had to say about his younger sibling. In fact, I was so wrapped up in the conversation I forgot that there were three other pairs of ears and eyes in the room all focused on Sora and me. I knew I was certainly going to get an earful from Larxene as soon as the star left.

"Well…" Sora pushed himself off of the table and started looking through the glass at all the sweets. "Roxas doesn't really talk about people he doesn't like or doesn't have any interest in. So, even when he says mean things," he shot an apologetic glance my way before continuing, "you still know that he cares in some way."

"I think I can understand that."

"Good, that's good." He was practically salivating all over himself while looking at the desserts in front of him. I nudged Demyx in the arm. After he jumped in surprise, I gestured towards the brunette and he nodded in understanding.

"Would you like something? We got tons of stuff, and I made most of it," Demyx boasted proudly while showing off all the treats he'd made.

"Yea, all this stuff looks really good." Sora never once took his eyes off of all the sweets, and he reminded me of a little child. "I think I want that piece of cheesecake!"

"Coming right up." My co-worker put on his plastic gloves, reached into the display case and carefully picked up the dessert. He put it in a clear, plastic container along with a fork and handed it over to Sora.

"I should probably get something to take home to Roxas," the brunette pondered as his eyes grazed over the selection of desserts again.

"A cupcake," I stated, "with blue frosting." Sora looked at me curiously, and I suddenly felt really weird for remembering that small detail. "Uh…that's what he got…you know…last time…when he came here." Everyone was staring at me, and I felt like a creep. It was another thing for Larxene to use against me.

"Ok, well, a cupcake with blue frosting it is, then!" Bless Sora for not making a big deal out of it. "You know, it was Roxas' idea that you guys cater the desserts at our party the other night. The day we found out about the other place canceling was the day he came here. He convinced our father that Wonderland Bakery was perfect for the party."

"Tell him thank you," Marluxia was waiting by the door as Sora was handed the cupcake. "And tell your father we'd be glad to help out any time he needs it."

The brunette nodded and smiled a smile so bright it could give the sun a run for its money. I automatically pictured the smile on Roxas' face. Sora set his bag of desserts on a random table and pulled his hood up over his head to help disguise himself then gave us a wave over his shoulder before heading to the door.

My boss was already holding the door open by the time the boy got there. Sora stopped just as he had placed one foot outside and turned around. "It's a costume party, by the way." He didn't move and seemed to be contemplating something, then he gave a sort of embarrassed chuckle. "Obviously."

* * *

After work, when Demyx and I walked outside, we found Yuffie and Zexion waiting for us. My best friend was leaning up against the wall while the girl was attempting to braid the hair that covered the right side of his face. He jerked his head away when he heard us and frantically tried to un-braid his hair.

"What's going on out here?" I asked, trying not to laugh at what I'd just witnessed. Only Yuffie would be able to get away with touching Zexion's hair like that.

"Waiting for your slow ass to get out here." The girl looked down at her watch. "You were supposed to be out here like fifteen minutes ago."

"Yea, well you could have just come inside," I replied, and Zexion looked at me like I was crazy. I knew he wasn't about to enter the bakery under any circumstances. "Anyways, we have some things to do."

My friend pushed himself away from the wall. "Like what?"

"Like buying Halloween costumes."

"I already have mine," Yuffie shouted out.

"You would," I retorted, and she stuck her tongue out at me. "But the rest of us normal people don't"

"I have mine too," Demyx informed.

"I said normal people don't." I wasn't surprised that either of them already had their costumes. They were the kinds of people who put up their Christmas decorations a month early, the kind of people that got overly excited about holidays or big events and overdid them.

"Actually, since tomorrow is Halloween it's normal for people to have costumes already," my roommate told me as he placed a hand on my shoulder. "So, we're the freaks in this situation. And why the hell do we need costumes anyways?"

Zexion and I never dressed up for Halloween. Ever since I could remember, our Halloween festivities had consisted of us going to the grocery store and buying huge bags of candy, wearing our matching shirts that said: _This is my Halloween costume _and sitting on the couch all night long watching movies. Hocus Pocus was our personal favorite.

"Sora Strife invited us to his parents' Halloween party."

"We're going to the Strife's mansion?" Yuffie jumped up and practically tackled me to the ground. "This is insane!"

"Yea, well, we better get going." I tried to usher everyone along. "And I have some things to ask you," I addressed the girl at my side.

She looked at me innocently as we began walking. "About what?"

I smirked. "Cloud and Kadaj"

Her face turned white for a second, and then she regained her composure. Demyx and Zexion were looking on curiously, as eager to hear her response as I was.

"What about them?" She started to walk a little faster, but I could easily keep pace with her thanks to my long legs.

"Why don't you tell me?" I tried to keep the humor out of my voice, but it was just too hard. Yuffie not willing to talk about something was comical. "Sora tells me you three really hit it off at the club the other night."

"Yea, well…" She cleared her throat and kept her eyes focused straight ahead. "They're cool guys."

I looked at Zexion, and I could tell that we were thinking the same thing. There was no way Yuffie would be acting that peculiar if it was nothing.

"Oh, really? Just cool guys, that's all?" I bent down so I was level with her, but she still kept her rapid pace and refused to look at me. "Because I think you have a crush on one of them. Who is it? Cloud?" She ignored me, which must have been taking a lot of discipline on her part. "Kadaj? Or maybe both of them?"

Before I knew what was happening, I felt my back collide with the wall of one of the buildings we were passing by. It was rather painful being slammed up against the bricks that way, but the girl in front of me didn't care. She grabbed onto my shirt, much like she had when she demanded she go shopping with me, and I could see fire in her eyes that told me she had all the control. "You are not to speak of this to anyone else! No one!" When I just started at her blankly she slapped her hand on the wall to the side of my head, startling me. "Do you hear me?"

"Y…yea." I didn't want to admit it, but Yuffie was kind of scary and really intimidating when she got serious. "I won't"

"Good." She flashed me a sugary sweet smile and walked away like nothing happened. "Because if you do, you'll regret it."

Demyx and Zexion were staring at me like they were about to burst out laughing at any moment, but I chose to ignore them and instead scrambled to catch up with my former attacker.

"Don't they get harassed like I did," I exclaimed, pointing to the two who were slowly making their ways behind us. "They could say something too, you know!"

"I'm not worried about them." Yuffie's mood was back to cheerful, once again. "It's _your_ big mouth that I'm concerned about." She looked content to let it drop, but then I saw something in her eyes.

"What?" I asked, not sure if it was the smartest thing to do.

"It's not like I'm in love with him or anything." I noticed that she didn't say which 'him' she was talking about. "It's just a crush, which is no big deal. Basically, I'm just looking to be friends."

"I know how you feel," I said it without even thinking.

"Oh, you do?" I'd awoken Yuffie's curiosity, which couldn't lead to anything good.

"Uh…I didn't say anything. You must be hearing things." I tried to play it off and started to walk faster even though I knew the effort was futile.

Yuffie was right next to me in no time at all. "Oh, no you don't!" She grabbed for my arm, but I was quick to snatch it away. "You're going to tell me how you know how I feel. Just who exactly do you feel that way about?"

I stopped walking and so did she. We started to stare each other down. Demyx and Zexion had finally caught up with us, but if they said anything I was completely oblivious. I was too busy trying to challenge the girl with my eyes. The gleam in her eyes told me she wasn't going to let the subject drop, so I formulated a plan. Granted, it wasn't a very good one, but it was better than nothing. I just had to wait for the right moment.

After a few more lingering seconds of intense staring, I took my shot. I made a sudden leap forward and ran, hoping to keep myself out of Yuffie's evil clutches. I heard her yelling after me as I sprinted ahead as fast as I could. When I looked back over my shoulder I saw her running full speed ahead towards me, arms flailing around wildly and screaming her head off. I caught a glimpse of my roommate and Demyx in the distance. I assumed they were as perplexed as ever over what was going on, and for some reason the whole situation became so funny to me that I started laughing and I just couldn't stop. My laughter made it hard to keep up my rapid pace, but it didn't matter because Yuffie seemed to find herself overcome by a fit of giggles, as well. Even she wasn't good enough to run and laugh hysterically at the same time.

We made it to the costume shop that was only a few blocks away from the bakery and the Smoothie King. Yuffie and I just collapsed in front of the door, trying to catch our breaths and stop laughing all at the same time, which is a lot harder than it seems. The other two finally caught up, and luckily the earlier subject seemed to be forgotten. I had a feeling it would be brought up again in the future, though.

The shop was pretty crowded. Apparently, a lot of people were doing some last minute costume shopping like I was. We walked over to an aisle at the far end of the store, and I started to search through the racks. Yuffie and Demyx grabbed some plastic swords off of a shelf and began to spar with each other up and down the aisle. Zexion was leaning up against a wall across from the long line of clothing racks.

"So, what kind of costumes are you going to get?" Yuffie asked as she ducked a jab from Demyx's sword.

"None," Zexion replied.

The girl froze in the middle of her attempt to poke the blond boy in the side with the plastic blade and spun around to look at my roommate. "What?" She gave him no chance to reply and was right in front of him in a second flat. "How can you not dress up for Halloween? I mean, what is wrong with you? Seriously, I'm gonna find something for you."

Yuffie started to dig through the racks next to me. I knew she was searching in vain. There was no way Zexion was going to dress up. It just wasn't his style. While I continued my quest to find a perfect costume, I noticed that Demyx, who was left without a sparring partner, had abandoned his sword and moved over to stand next to my best friend. I also observed that he made sure not to stand too close. By trying to make his feelings less evident, he was making them all the more obvious to me.

"Here!" Yuffie pulled out a ladybug costume and held it up to show everyone. "This is perfect for you."

Zexion looked at the girl like she'd lost her mind, and I tried to hold back the giggles threatening to escape. She ran over and held the costume up to him and inspected it.

"I don't think a ladybug costume fits him." Demyx's reply caught my attention, and I turned away from the rack to give my full focus to the other three.

Yuffie scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "Then what do you think _fits_ him?"

"I don't know…" the blond hesitated slightly. "…I think maybe…just…himself."

I noticed my best friend nervously shift from his leaning position. Zexion hated to be the center of attention, but I also got the feeling that his reaction had something to do with Demyx's words, like maybe he was starting to understand that the blond had secret feelings for him. Zexion wasn't as perceptive as I was because he chose not to pay attention to his surroundings the majority of the time, but when someone is being so obvious it's hard not to take notice.

"Oh, so you're saying that he's hideous enough already without a costume?"

My co-worker was caught off guard by the girl's words and started to sputter an incoherent reply. "Wha— no…I'm just…you...I mean." He was just embarrassing himself even further by trying to defend what he'd said. His cheeks were turning a light shade of pink, and the whole scene was rather pathetic, so I decided to relieve him.

I pulled out a random costume from the rack and held it up to me. It just happened to be a cowboy outfit. I'd never go out in public wearing that, but it didn't matter because it was just a tool I needed to use for distraction. Once Yuffie saw that I was suffering in trying to find a costume, I knew she wouldn't be able to pass up helping me out and, therefore, would leave the other two alone. "What do you think about this?"

I caught everyone's attention, and as soon as Yuffie saw me, she gave me a pitiful look. "Axel, sweetie." She made her way over to me and took the costume from my hands. "Everyone and their mother is going to be a cowboy. Plus, the look just doesn't really suit you. I think you desperately need my help." She patted me on the chest and started searching through the racks again. My plan worked like a charm.

We spent the next few minutes looking through tons and tons of costumes. I suggested a vampire costume but was promptly shot down by the girl. I was starting to regret my decision of involving her in the first place when she finally pulled something off the rack that wasn't completely stupid.

"You could totally pull off Captain Jack Sparrow," Yuffie said, and her face lit up. "You are without doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of."

"But you have heard of me," I quoted back to her.

We shared another laugh, and she smiled at me. "Perfect."

* * *

Standing in front of the Strife mansion for the second time in less than a month felt more normal than I thought it would have. That didn't quell the anticipation, though. It was the first time I was going to see Roxas in over a week, and I was actually feeling uneasy about that. I could tell that the others were nervous and I'm pretty sure intimidated, too. Zexion and Yuffie had never been to the house before, and experiencing something like that for the first time could be kind of overwhelming. I should know; I felt the exact same way the first time I stood in front of that huge door.

We were all decked out in our costumes, sans Zexion. He was wearing this long black coat that reached his ankles and zipped up in the front. Yuffie was dressed up as a ninja, which I pointed out when we picked her up was a perfect fit. She even had a pair of nun chucks with her. I didn't think that was such a good idea with her kind of power, but I wasn't about to bring that up. Demyx was a clown with a huge red nose adorning his face and an oversized jumpsuit with mismatched patches and random colors all over it. It was so funny that even Zexion cracked a smile when we first caught a glimpse of my co-worker.

I, of course, was Jack Sparrow. I thought I looked pretty cool, if I do say so myself. Yuffie insisted that I not wear a wig because my hair was awesome and it would set me apart from anyone else who happened to be wearing the same thing. She even went as far as braiding some small braids in my hair and adding some beads to them.

Eventually, I rang the doorbell, and we were greeted by a man dressed like someone straight out of the 18th century. He led us inside and informed us that Sora and the others were out on the back porch.

For some reason, when Sora said it was going to be a Halloween party I thought that's what it was going to be, but I guess it was my fault for assuming things. Looking around the inside of the house, you'd have never even known it was Halloween aside from the costumes, which were highly unoriginal. All of the older people, who were hanging around inside, were wearing basically the same thing as the guy who had answered the door. The men in their petticoats, white stocking, and buckle up shoes. The women were all wearing long, flowing gowns and had their hair in styles that you just didn't see anymore. It was like some kind of time warp.

There were no Halloween decorations around the house, no music was playing, there was absolutely nothing to let you know that it was a party and not just any other random day. In fact, it was so similar to the last party I helped cater there that it was almost like I was experiencing déjà vu.

When we made it out to the back, I was relieved to at least find that area somewhat made up to resemble a Halloween party. There were huge bowls of candy on random tables and small candles shaped like pumpkins on others. Some orange and purple lights had been strung around a few of the various potted plants and over the entryway of the pool house. The contrast of the inside and the outside of the house was vast, to say the least. It was still hardly the party I expected, but I decided that it didn't matter that much.

Sora waved us over almost as soon as we stepped out the door. I noticed everyone from the other night was there, as well. Everyone except the one person I was most hoping to see.

"You guys made it!" Sora, who greatly resembled Harry Potter despite his spiky hair, greeted us with a wave of the wand in his hand.

"What are you supposed to be?" Riku, who was standing next to the brunette, asked as he looked Zexion up and down. The plastic fangs in his mouth were hindering his speech a little.

"Your worst nightmare," my friend retorted, but his voice lacked any sort of harshness. "And I see you chose the most original costume of all time."

"Hey!" Riku spat the fangs out into his hand. "A vampire is a classic Halloween costume; you can't go wrong with it. And at least I dressed up."

I saw the look on both of the men's faces and the almost identical playful smirks they were both sporting, and I knew they'd found formidable opponents in each other. Once again, it was proven that opposites attract because never in a million years would I have guessed that Zexion would befriend Riku. Not that they were friends yet, but I could see them getting along in the near future.

"What's going on inside?" Demyx asked. "It hardly even looks like a Halloween party in there." He pointed to the house.

"Yea, well, that's my parents' idea of a Halloween party." Sora gestured for us to look around the area with his wand, a proud grin on his lips. "I decorated out here. With the help of Cloud, Kadaj and Riku, of course."

As Sora went on about his decorating endeavors, I took the time to look at the rest of the group. Cloud and Kadaj were standing behind the chatty brunette, and neither one of them were wearing costumes. The blond had mouse ears on his head and whiskers painted onto his checks, and his friend was donning a pair of white rabbit ears with a pink nose painted on his face.

The girls walked over a few seconds later. Namine was supposed to be an angel, at least the wings and halo would tell you so, but the outfit she was wearing was not angelic at all. The whole ensemble was white in color. She had on a tube top that bared her mid-drift and the tiniest skirt I'd ever seen in my life. One false move and she would be showing the world her business. On her feet were a pair of high heels with straps that wound all around her legs and tied just under her knees.

Kairi was wearing the exact same thing except her clothes were colored red. She also had a pair of horns on her head and a tail sticking out of her skirt and dangling down behind her. At that moment, I thought the devil outfit would be better suited for her blond friend.

I noticed Kairi walk over to the punch bowl, and I followed her. I don't know why, but I wanted to talk to her, especially after what happened the other night and the whole picture incident. It could have been that I was just curious, but I think for some reason I just wanted to make sure she was doing ok. I mean, it had to be utterly humiliating having a picture like that out there for the world to see. In some ways, I think I felt a bit protective over her, which was kind of insane since I'd barely even talked to her, but when I saw her crying that night at the club, I saw the little girl under all the fame, make-up and fancy clothes. I think it reminded me of myself in some weird way. It reminded me that under my optimistic attitude and general pleasant demeanor, somewhere inside, I was still that broken little boy looking for love.

Everyone else was too busy wrapped up in Sora's tale about his quest to hang the lights around the pool house to notice that either Kairi or I had strayed away from the pack. The girl was just finishing pouring the punch into her cup when I walked up behind her.

"Hey." I said it quietly, but it still caused her to jump. The punch sloshed around in her glass, and some of the liquid almost landed on her clothes as it poured out. She hopped backwards, trying to avoid it and landed against me. "Sorry about that."

She quickly regained her poise and smiled at me amiably. "Don't worry about it." She picked up a plastic cup and handed it to me. "You want some punch?"

I nodded, and she started to pour some into the glass for me. "It sucks," I said as the girl set the dipper back down into the bowl. She looked at me inquiringly, and I leaned against the table. "You know, the other night…the picture." I didn't want to upset her, so I watched her expression as I spoke. She never once showed any signs of distress or discomfort, so I figured it was ok to talk about.

Kairi shook her head hastily as if to disregard my statement. "It was nothing." She took a sip of her punch. "I mean it's going to happen, and as long as it's happening to me that means someone else is off the hook." She gazed off into the distance for a moment and seemed to be thinking about something. "I'd rather it be me than someone I care about." She looked over her shoulder at her group of friends. "Or even someone I don't know because I know I can handle it. It's nothing I can't get through."

Her response was something I hadn't been expecting at all. I was sort of shocked into silence. I'd expected her to tell me she was fine, but I never expected her to be so caring and selfless. There was way more to the auburn haired girl than I ever bothered to take notice of, and I felt stupid for not being able to see it before.

"I never did tell you how awesome it was that you didn't let Riku push you around." I was pulled from my reverie by her voice. "He's not as bad as he seems, though." She looked over at him and smiled. "He's actually a big softy when you get to know him. I think he just puts up a front so he doesn't get hurt."

I saw Riku across the way laughing and ruffling Sora's hair affectionately. The genuine smile that lit up his face did wonders to make me feel guilty about my previous judgments of him.

"Are you ok?" Kairi questioned and looked up at me with concern. "You got really quiet all of a sudden, and you haven't even taken one sip of your punch."

I looked down at the drink in my hands, and suddenly it didn't look that enticing anymore, but I took a swallow of it anyways. "It's nothing, I was just thinking." Kairi didn't say anything further, so I thought I would continue talking. "Is this what you guys do every Halloween?"

She looked around the area before speaking. "Pretty much, yea. I've known Sora for five years and every Halloween this is exactly what we do." She didn't sound too excited about it. Not that I could blame her. The party was hardly thrilling, and doing it every year for five years had to be excruciatingly boring. "But Sora tries hard to make it at least semi-fun, so I put up with it." Her giggles filled the air, and they made her appear so innocent, contrary to what her revealing clothes would suggest.

A hush lingered over us for a few seconds. "Where's Roxas?" Even though I thought better of asking, I just couldn't help myself.

"Uh…" Kairi seemed like she hadn't expected the question and wasn't sure if she should give any information away. "Probably inside somewhere. He's never really around for these kinds of things."

"Yea, I noticed." I got an idea, and since no one besides Kairi even seemed to notice my absence, it seemed like the perfect plan. "Uh, do you know where the bathroom is?"

"Oh, as soon as you go through the door take a right. Once you're in the hallway it's the first door on your left." The girl knew her way around the house like she lived there herself.

"Thanks. Tell them where I am if they ask." I motioned towards the others. Kairi nodded, and I began to walk away. Before I got too far I turned back around and looked at the girl again. It was like I was seeing her in a brand new light. Instead of some skanky, rich girl, she was someone I was really starting to respect.

"You're alright, Kairi," I said softly, and she looked up at me with wide eyes, like no one had ever said anything nice to her in her life. I saw the corners of her mouth turn up, and I winked at her before I turned to leave again.

* * *

I made my way into the house unnoticed just as planned, but the bathroom wasn't my intended goal. I felt kind of guilty for lying to Kairi, but it was just a little white lie and certainly wouldn't hurt anyone. The girl was smart, and I figured that when I didn't come back she would know exactly what I was doing, anyway.

I tried to walk through the living room as inconspicuously as possible. I found that to be quite easy despite the large group of people standing around. They were all too wrapped up in their own conversations to notice me sneaking by. I ran up the winding staircase just in case, by some odd chance, someone happened to look around and spot me.

Once I was safely on the second floor, I took a second to catch my breath and take in my new surroundings. The upstairs was dark considering it was night time and everyone else was downstairs. It didn't matter to me, though. I was going to satisfy my curiosity and explore the house, anyway. What harm could it do? I would just take a quick look around then rejoin the party downstairs. No one would be any the wiser.

I opened the first door I came across and turned on the light. I was greeted with a rather large room that was actually quite barren. The only items in the space were a bed that looked like it hadn't ever been slept in and a dresser. I assumed it must have been a guestroom. That was not interesting enough for me, so I continued on my hunt.

I opened a few more doors, one being a linen closet. Boring. Another was a bathroom, at least it was supposed to be. It was the grandest bathroom I'd ever seen in my short life. The whole thing was colored in gold, much like the downstairs living room. The faucets were gold, the walls were golden in color, and even the bathtub, which could have passed for an Olympic sized swimming pool, was sparkling. And to top it all off, there was a large TV in the wall above the tub. I probably could have lived in there and been content for the rest of my life. As entrancing as the whole thing was, it wasn't quite what I was looking for, so I closed the door and moved on.

I noticed a soft light leaking out into the hallway up ahead, and I proceeded to move towards it. I was like a moth drawn to a flame. As I got closer, I saw that the light was seeping out through a door that was slightly ajar. I checked my surroundings before moving closer and taking a peak inside. Through the crack I could see that it was a bedroom, and no one seemed to be in it. After looking around the hall again, I began to open the door slowly. It made a loud, drawn out groaning sound that practically echoed throughout the whole house. I froze and held my breath, completely expecting to be caught at any moment.

After a few minutes of standing there like a statue with my hand on the doorknob and the door a quarter open, I decided that no one was going to pop out of the darkness and catch me in the act of snooping. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I was taking a huge risk, but when I was in the heat of the moment, logic and common sense tended to make themselves scarce. I looked over my shoulder one last time before I determined that it was safe to proceed. I opened the door a little faster that time and, throwing all caution to the wind, entered the room.

Besides the fact that it was a bedroom, it was bedroom that actually looked lived in, at least at one point in time. For the most part, it looked like your normal room with a bed, a desk, a dresser, paintings decorating the walls, and a huge window with long elegant drapes that reached the floor.

Everything in there seemed to be larger than life and extremely expensive, but it wasn't any of that lavish stuff that caught my eye. Instead, I was completely captivated by a small, tarnished picture frame that was sitting on the desk in the corner of the room. It stuck out like a sore thumb among everything else that looked practically brand new. The closer I got, the more I was able to see.

The frame was obviously real old because despite the silver being somewhat discolored, it also looked like it had a few dents in it, and one of the corners seemed like it was about to break off. The thing had certainly seen better days, that was for sure. Even though I spent quite a bit of time studying the frame and the state it was in, it was the picture inside that really caught my eye.

There was a man and a woman standing on a boardwalk with their arms wrapped around each other. The woman was trying to keep her hat from blowing off in the wind. In front of the two of them was a boy who looked to be in his early teens. His long, blond spikes were blowing in the breeze, and he had his arms crossed over his chest. The man and the woman were each holding the hands of two even younger boys. A small, brunette boy was holding the hand of his father. Despite being restrained, he was reaching out across the way to another boy who was holding onto his mother. When I saw the little blond boy holding a seashell in his hand and looking at it like it was something magical, I knew exactly who it was.

I was looking at a picture of the Strife family. It was obviously quite an old photograph because Roxas couldn't have been more than five years old in it. It was way before Sora had ever become famous, way before the public followed their every move, back when they were a normal family. They all looked so happy in it, even Roxas. I reached out to touch the frame but was stopped by a familiar voice.

"Are you having fun snooping around my house?"

I spun around and, in the process, knocked the picture frame to the carpet with my hand. Luckily, the thing stayed in tact and didn't fall apart, which was a miracle considering how ancient it was. I didn't even bother to bend down and pick it up because I was too stunned to move. Not necessarily because I had been caught but because of whom I'd been caught by and the fact that he was wearing cat ears on his head. My amusement in the ears didn't last long, though.

"Did you find what you were looking for," the blond said sharply as he shut the door. I had absolutely no idea what he was getting at or what he was trying to imply, so I just stood there like an idiot, leaning awkwardly against the wooden desk. "I mean, you were searching for something, right? You wouldn't just come up here if you weren't looking for something."

"I have no idea what you're talking about…" Maybe snooping around the house wasn't that great of an idea, but it's not like I was stealing anything, and I certainly wasn't looking for something specific like he was implying. I knew he was a somewhat moody person, but he was acting a little more hostile than I expected. I moved forward to pick up the picture frame, but I was stopped by the sound of Roxas' hard footsteps.

"Don't act stupid." He walked over, grabbed the frame off the floor and, without even bothering to look at it, set it face down on the desk so the photo couldn't be seen. "You were probably looking for some dirt on my family, right? Something you could sell to the tabloids."

I got the feeling that what he was accusing me of happened to him before. Had been any other time, that fact would have upset me a little more than I would have cared to admit. My actions were purely innocent, though. A little reckless, maybe. But my intentions were never to upset anyone.

Finally, I couldn't take anymore of his glaring, so I responded, "I would never do that." I straightened myself up. Something about towering over someone is really invigorating. It made me feel like I was in total control. And who doesn't like that feeling? "I can't believe you think I'm that kind of person."

Despite having to tip his head back to look up at me, the blond didn't back down. "How would I know what kind of person you are? I barely even know you." He crossed his arms, and the expression on his face changed from indignant to sort of pouty. It was almost the exact same expression that I had seen on Sora at the club, but on Roxas it was a lot less tragic since he wasn't as vivacious as his brother in the first place. "What exactly were you doing then?"

"I was…uh…" I attempted to drag my fingers through my hair like I did when I got nervous, but I was hindered by the pirate hat on my head that I'd forgotten I was even wearing. The hat went flying backwards, and I scrambled to pick it up. I heard Roxas let out a small laugh, and I thought it was the most amazing sound I'd ever heard. It made my embarrassment melt away and allowed me to finish my thoughts without being all flustered. "Well, to be honest, I'm just plain nosy and a bit stupid."

The small smirk that formed on his lips told me that he was no longer upset. "Your hair clashes with your costume," He informed me flatly.

"Oh, Yeah? Well, your ears clash with your…face." Some sort of moment passed between us. You know, the kind that you can't really grasp or describe in words, but you know there's something there, something different. It was brief, but it was there just the same.

A look of realization crossed over Roxas' face as he grabbed the ears off of his head and threw them across the room and onto the bed. The pout had returned to his lips when he turned away from me, mumbling, "…Cloud and Kadaj…"

"What did you say," I asked. "I didn't quite catch that."

He spun back around. "I said it was Cloud and Kadaj's idea." He looked away, and his eyes narrowed slightly, like he was plotting his revenge on the two offenders. "They forced me to wear the stupid ears, and then I forgot I had them on."

"Sure you did," I teased, and it caused the boy's lips to turn down into a frown. I liked to taunt Roxas. It helped to lighten the mood and even broke down his defenses a little. I never liked serious conversations, anyway. I always tried to joke my way out of them. It helped that I had a natural ability to be witty when I needed, most of the time. "I think you secretly liked wearing them, and maybe you aren't as dull and moody as you try to come off."

"Like you know anything about me," He scoffed. He didn't meet my gaze, though, so I got the feeling I touched on something.

He didn't say anything else, so I just let that subject drop and turned the focus to something else I'd been wondering. "Where are your friends?"

He looked up from the floor the second the words escaped my lips. "What do you mean? They're downstairs. Or did you start snooping the minute you got here?"

I let his snarky comment go in favor of trying to get an answer out of him. "No, I mean your other friends." He finally looked directly into my eyes, and it took me a minute to get my thoughts back together. "The one's who came to the bakery with you that other day. How come they aren't here? How come they weren't at the movie premiere?"

"Oh…" The blond's face dropped, and he looked so pitiful that I wished I could reverse time and take all my words back. He sat down on the bed sullenly and started to run his fingers over the bedspread. "I just don't like to get them involved in that kind of stuff," he sighed. "The movie premiere and things like that, I mean. They're normal people, and I like them that way. I don't want anything to change that."

I guessed in some weird sort of way that kind of made sense, but I personally didn't see the big deal. I didn't see how accompanying Roxas to certain events or being at certain parties could change his friends' lives that drastically. But he probably knew more about it than I did. After all, I wasn't the one who lived in the public eye every day of my life.

"Before Sora got really famous…" Roxas hesitated for a moment, like he wasn't sure if he wanted to say anything else, then I saw the tiniest hint of ease rush over him, and he continued. "We used to hang out every Halloween at Pence's house. We would just eat tons of candy until the point that we got sick and watch scary movies all night long." He laughed again, but it died on his lips almost immediately. "That's probably what they're doing right now…"

I wanted to say something, but I wasn't exactly sure what. Roxas had never been that vulnerable in front of me before, and I didn't want to say something wrong or stupid and completely ruin that.

A light tapping on the door sounded out, interrupting whatever was going on between the two of us, and then it opened slowly, revealing the moment stealer to be Cid Strife. Roxas didn't look too pleased to see his father, but either the older man didn't notice or he chose to ignore it.

"Roxas, I really think you should—" He cut himself off when he saw me standing over in the corner of the room. "Oh, hello, I didn't think anyone else would be up here…" I got the overwhelming feeling that he wanted to me to leave, and he didn't even have to say it to make it clear.

"Uh…sorry. I'll just go." I wanted to get out of the room as fast as possible, so I started to make my way across the floor and stumbled over my own feet on the way. The whole situation was just uncomfortable, and Roxas' father was weirdly intimidating without even trying to be.

"No! Stay!"

I was halfway to the door when I heard the Roxas' commanding voice. It was so strange to hear him use that tone that I couldn't help but stop right away and turn back around. The way he was looking at me, like he was pleading me to stay, immediately ceased any will I had to leave in the first place.

"This is Axel," Roxas said to his father. It filled me with such simple joy that he remembered my name. "He's one of the people Sora invited."

"Pleasure to meet you," Cid Strife greeted me, and I nodded my head politely in response. He focused all of his attention on his son, once again. "I really think it would be-"

"I know what you're going to say." The boy stood up abruptly. "And maybe I don't want to."

"Roxas," The man's tone of voice never changed. The smile never left his face, but I still felt like he was getting upset. It was so bizarre, and it made the whole atmosphere of the room feel even more uncomfortable then it would have been if he just showed signs of being disappointed. "How is it going to make us look if you don't even make an appearance at this party? You know how rude that is, and I know that you wouldn't want to embarrass your family like that."

Roxas attempted to move away, but his father caught him by the arm. Despite the action, the expression on the man's face was still as calm as ever. The boy sighed, and his father ruffled his hair. "I knew you'd do the right thing."

He left without even bothering to say goodbye, and the room fell into silence once again. Roxas looked even more upset than he had been when I asked about his friends. I wanted to do something to make him feel better, so I started to formulate one of my random plans.

"If you want," I started out slowly just to make sure he was in the mood to hear what I had to say. When he didn't immediately tell me to shut up I figured it was ok to continue, "after you make your appearance downstairs, or whatever, I could, you know…maybe…take you to your friend's house."

He eyed me curiously for a few seconds. "First of all why would I want to get in a car with you? And secondly, why would you even want to do that for me?"

"I don't think you'd turn down a free ticket out of here, honestly, and no one is able to resist my charms." He looked at me incredulously but didn't outright deny my words. "And I want to take you because you look miserable, and it's hurting my heart." I clutched my chest and played it off like a joke, but the truth was it really sort of did hurt seeing him like that.

"Plus, I like you." That seemed to stun him momentarily just like I was hoping. "I mean, I think you're cool and all, so why wouldn't I help you out?"

"Ok…" He was obviously hesitant, but that was to be expected. I didn't think Roxas was the kind of person who jumped headfirst into things like I tended to do. "But how are we going to get out of here?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "Are you serious? We'll just sneak out. I doubt it will be that hard considering you're always missing in action at these events, anyway."

"You're right." His face fell again, and it annoyed me that my words had caused that reaction from him two times in one night. "No one would miss me if I left."

"I would." It was involuntary response. "I mean, if I was them I…I would miss you."

Roxas moved towards the door, all the while regarding me suspiciously. "Ok…I'll meet you downstairs, then. It shouldn't take long for me to make my appearance, then we can leave."

He opened the door to leave, but I stopped him. "There's just one condition." I couldn't keep the amusement out of my voice.

He turned back around to look at me and rolled his eyes. "And what is that?"

I walked over to the bed and picked up the item he'd tossed on it earlier. His eyes widened in realization while the grin on my face grew in size. "You have to wear the ears."

The blond huffed but grabbed them out of my hand anyway, placing the ears firmly on top of his head. "Are you happy now?"

He tried to sound annoyed, but I could tell that he was rather enjoying our little exchange. And so was I.

"Yea, I am."

* * *

I waited till Roxas was completely out of sight and I was sure that he had already made his way out into the crowd before I bounded down the stairs. My heart was so full and beating so rapidly in my chest that I thought I might drop dead right there on the spot. Running down the winding staircase, I thought I might be able to take off and fly. I felt that happy. There was no other feeling like it in the world, and I was starting to scare myself.

Since when did I act like that over a simple conversation and an innocent offer to help someone out? Never. I had to stop being so foolish because I knew if I wasn't careful I was going to be too far gone to be saved. I was going to become too blinded by my love for blue eyes, blond hair and pouty lips to see the inevitable coming.

That thought sobered me up, and I was able to think clearly again. Not once in my life did love ever end in anything good. Not that I'd experienced the emotion that much, but my childhood was enough to let me know that love and the fairytale stories I heard about it were just that; make-believe.

Love didn't stop my parent's marriage from falling apart at the seams. It never stopped them from arguing and fighting every night. Not once did it remind them to pay a bit of attention to their son. And it certainly did nothing to comfort me when I felt like I couldn't take it anymore. What helped me was logical thinking and never letting myself believe that anyone else but myself could fix me. I was the only one who could pull myself out of the situation I had been thrown into, and I was the only person I could ever rely on.

The one exception to all of that was Zexion. I loved him with all of my heart. We helped each other out through some of the toughest years in both of our lives. No one could ever replace that bond we shared, and because of that, I knew he would never let me down, he would never do anything to cause me pain, and I would never do that to him. He was the only form of love I allowed into my life. I could never trust anyone else enough to let them in completely like I did with him.

The thought of my best friend reminded me that I should probably let him know what was going on, so I pulled my cell phone and dialed his number without even having to look. It rang a few times before he finally picked up.

"Axel, where the hell are you?" He was speaking in a hushed voice. I figured it was probably because the others were still around him.

"I'm in the house," I replied and looked around to make sure no one was around to hear me. I didn't want to ruin the plan before it even got off the ground. "I'm waiting by the front door for Roxas."

"Roxas…" My roommate sounded intrigued. "He's out here right now, talking with everyone."

"Yea, I know. Don't let anyone know you're talking to me, ok?"

"What's going on?"

I knew I wouldn't be able to hide anything from Zexion. Not that I would even want to. "I'm taking him to his friend's house, so he's kind of sneaking out."

"He's willing to get in a car with you?" I heard him laugh. "How does he know you're not some kind of weirdo who's going to kidnap him and keep him in a basement somewhere to be your personal sex slave?"

That thought paralyzed me temporarily. Sex and Roxas. Roxas as my sex slave. I was sure my brain was going to malfunction, but then Zexion's voice brought me back to reality.

"Pull yourself together." It was amazing how he knew exactly what was going on in my mind and we didn't even have to be in the same room. "How are we going to get home if you're taking the car?"

I hadn't thought about that. Damn reality and its annoying way of ruining things. "I could come back and pick you guys up…"

"Don't worry about it," he disregarded my offer. "I'm sure someone here will take us home."

"Are you ok with that," I asked as I took a seat on the bottom step.

"Would I waste my breath if I wasn't?"

I loved how straight forward Zexion was. That was one thing that set him apart from a lot of people. I liked that I could count on him for an honest answer and not a bunch of bullshit, like sugar-coating things to spare feelings.

"Looks like blondie's getting ready to head your way," he informed me, and I jumped up. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

I laughed. "That doesn't give me a lot of leeway, Zex."

"Ha, ha," my friend mocked.

"I better go, but if anyone—"

"If anyone asks, I'll just make some kind of excuse as to where you are."

I smiled at how he knew exactly what I was going to say. "Thanks, man. I looove you."

"Get lost," Zexion said before hanging up the phone, but I knew it was said with as much affection as he could muster.

I was laughing to myself and shoving the phone back in my pocket when Roxas showed up. He still had the cat ears in place on his head, and that fact made me a little giddier than I'd ever get under normal circumstances.

"Ready to go," I asked.

He nodded wordlessly, and we were just about to walk out the door when I heard voices. Before we had the chance to move, they got louder, signaling that the people behind them were getting even closer. I was starting to panic. I didn't want to get caught. I desperately wanted to get out of the house and ride with Roxas off into the sunset, or just to his friend's house. Most of all, though, I didn't want him to get upset again.

I thought of maybe running back up the stairs, but we would be spotted before we even made it halfway up. We couldn't run back into the main area of the house because it was full of people. If we ran out the front door we would be caught before we made it out of the driveway. There was literally no where to go, and we were stuck, doomed to be caught and have the night ruined.

I heard the footsteps growing louder, and I prepared myself for the disappointment I was about to feel, but I didn't prepare myself for Roxas grabbing me by the arm and startling me out of my thoughts. He dragged me a few feet to a door, and when he opened it up I realized it was a closet.

When I didn't move, he pushed me forward and I almost toppled over. Luckily, I was able to steady myself by grabbing onto the side of the door frame. I was shoved forward again when Roxas made his way into the closet, shutting the door silently behind us.

It was pitch black and I couldn't even see an inch in front of my face. If we weren't on the verge of being caught, the idea of being in a dark closet with the short blond would have excited me a lot more than it did. But as it was, I was too busy worrying about how we were going to get out of the house to think about anything like that.

"What are we doing?" I asked, even though I had a pretty good idea.

"We're hiding you idiot." The reply was just as exasperated as I had expected, and it made me smile. "Now shut up or they're going to hear us."

I did as I was told and zipped my lips. I pressed my hand against the wall to make sure that I didn't fall down into the darkness. The coats that were hanging to my left were brushing up against me and making me feel a bit smothered. The small space was really starting to feel hot and stuffy, but I figured it would all be over soon because I could hear the muffled voices just on the other side of the door.

I almost thought the owners of the voices were going to open the door because they seemed to stop right in front of it. I felt my stomach drop, but then I heard the footsteps continue, and I let out a sigh of relief.

I was relieved too soon, though, because they next thing I heard was a shrill yelp of some sort and a loud crash coming from inside of the closet. Before I knew what was going on, the door flung open and the light spilled inside to reveal Roxas lying on the ground, covered in coats. Apparently, he'd been hanging onto the pole that was holding the items of clothing up and it had fallen from its place on the wall.

"Just what, exactly, is going on here?"

It was then that I decided to see who we had been caught by. Cloud and Kadaj were standing side by side with identical smirks on their faces. They didn't even bother to look at me because they were too busy staring at the poor blond who was sprawled all over the floor, almost completely covered in various jackets and sweaters. The more I looked at him, the more self control it took not to laugh. I almost forgot about the fact that we had been found out and the plan was ruined.

Roxas let out a grunt in reply to his brother's question as he pushed himself up from the floor and sat there atop the pile of clothes. Cloud and Kadaj didn't bother to hide their amusement any longer and let out a few loud cackles, causing Roxas to scrunch his face up in aggravation. The other two didn't even notice, but I had my eyes on the boy at all times, so I was quite aware.

"How about _you_ give us an answer," Kadaj addressed me as soon as he stopped laughing and caught his breath.

I had no idea what to say. I didn't want to give away the plans that Roxas and I had made in case he didn't want anyone to know, and I also didn't want to lie through my teeth. Luckily, I didn't have to decide because the blond, who was still sitting on the floor, spoke up.

"I'm leaving." That took the attention off me, once again.

Cloud reached out a hand for his brother to take and helped him up off the ground. "What do you mean?'

"I mean, I'm getting out of here." Roxas pushed his way in between the two men and out of the closet. "Axel is taking me to Pence's house, and you're not going to stop us."

Cloud looked somewhat hurt by his younger sibling's words. "Why would I do that?"

The younger of the two walked to the door and grabbed the knob but turned around before opening it. "Because you know how mom and dad are about their parties and public appearances."

"Of course I do, but do you actually think I'm going to go rat you out like a little bitch?" Cloud placed his hands on his hips, and Roxas just stared blankly at his brother. "What the hell, Roxas?"

"Fine, sorry, can I just go now?" The boy seemed to be growing impatient as he twisted the knob and opened the door. I was still standing in the closet, but I could feel the cold air sweeping in from outside, and it caused me to shudder. It fit the mood of the room perfectly. "I'll meet you outside." He looked at me before promptly walking out the door.

That left me in a very awkward situation. Cloud was standing in the same spot and looking a lot more sullen then I'd ever seen him look before. It was amazing how much he resembled Roxas. It was amazing how all three of the Strife brothers were so alike and yet so different in many ways.

Kadaj was standing off to the side, glancing at me sideways. The silence was deafening. I wanted the two of them to forget I was standing there and just leave so I could get outside without having to deal with any uncomfortable situations. That obviously wasn't going to happen, though, so I knew I just needed to suck it up.

"Look, man," Kadaj consoled his friend by placing a hand on his shoulder. "We all know Roxas is a little shit. He'll get over it."

Cloud gave a half smile to the silver-haired man. "Yea, I guess. I just wish he would talk to me. I feel like I don't even know him at all anymore." He let out an elongated sigh. "Even Sora isn't as close to him anymore, and they live together."

"I wouldn't worry about it," The other man replied as he leaned back against the railing of the stairwell. "He'll come around soon enough."

"I guess you're right…" Cloud didn't sound too convinced, but he let the subject drop.

I got the feeling that they forgot I was even standing there, and I was starting to feel really out of place. Listening to the two of them talk, I couldn't help but think about the family portrait I saw upstairs in the bedroom. The way they all looked so truly happy. It really bothered me that Roxas seemed to be drifting away from his brothers. I don't even know why. It's not like I was especially close to any of them, but just seeing how heartbroken Cloud looked triggered emotions I didn't think I would feel for the family.

I eventually cleared my throat to remind the two of my presence, and the blond looked slightly startled when he realized I was still there. I stepped out of the closet, but instead of moving any father I just stood there, and I have no idea why. Maybe I wanted to talk to Cloud, maybe I wanted some more insight on what was going on with Roxas, or maybe the situation was too awkward and I didn't know what to do. Regardless of the reason, I just stayed put and waited for something to happen.

"You better go," Kadaj was the one to address me. "Wouldn't want to keep old sourpuss waiting."

I opened my mouth to reply, but the words caught in my throat when I looked at Cloud, so I just nodded instead. And even though I was practically told to get out, I still couldn't find the will to move.

The silver-haired man opened his eyes wider, like he was waiting for an answer from me, but it was oldest Strife brother who actually spoke. "Don't worry about it, I won't tell anyone where you guys went."

"That…that's not…" Serious situations; I was no good at them.

"I'm fine," Cloud reassured me, and though the smile on his face was small, it was real. "But thanks for caring." I smiled back and then nodded at Kadaj before taking my leave.

When I opened the door a strong gust of wind almost blew me backwards. Fortunately, I remembered I was wearing a hat that time and was smart enough to hold onto it. It was a lot colder when I walked out of the house then it had been when my friends and I arrived at the front door hours before. I cursed myself inwardly for not bringing a jacket and wrapped my arms around myself before walking to the car.

I was surprised to find Roxas leaning up against the passenger's side of my car. When I got closer I saw his teeth chattering, and I knew he was too stubborn to go back into the house and get a jacket after the whole confrontation with Cloud.

"How did you know which car was mine," I asked as I pressed the button that turned off the alarm and unlocked the doors.

He looked around the curved pavement that served as a driveway before answering. "It was the shittiest one out here, so I just put two and two together."

I chuckled at the truth of his statement as I opened the door and got inside. Roxas was quick to get in out of the cold, as well. Silence lingered on for a few moments as we buckled up and I turned the heat on and started the engine.

"What took you so long?"

"What do you mean?" I pressed my foot on the gas and moved the car forward.

"I mean, you were in the house for like five minutes after I left. What did Cloud say to you?" Roxas said as he placed his hands in front of one of the vents that was blowing out heat.

"Nothing. He said nothing to me." That was pretty much the truth. Everything he'd said about Roxas, he told to Kadaj.

"I think you're lying." He rubbed his hands together, and I saw him shiver out of the corner of my eye.

"Then you suck at telling when people are lying," I said matter-of-factly. Getting out of the Strives driveway was proving to be difficult. There were a million cars scattered all over, and trying to weave through them was like trying to find your way through a maze. It was seriously testing my patience. "So where does this Pence live?"

"Not too far from here, actually. Well, it's not around _this area_." I didn't miss the resentment in his voice as he said the last two words. "But it's just over the bridge. I'll give you directions along the way."

I nodded in agreement. Things fell quiet again and stayed that way for the majority of the ride. Unlike the last time I shared a prolonged time of silence with the blond, it was a lot less awkward. In fact, there was nothing strange about it at all. It was actually quite comfortable, and I never wanted our little trip to end. I would drive around forever if it meant keeping Roxas close to me. Of course, we would eventually run out of gas, and with my luck we'd probably end up in the middle of nowhere and die of starvation, but at least we'd be together.

I mostly kept my eyes on the road, but I couldn't stop myself from occasionally glancing over at the blond. Most of the time he had his head rested up against the window. He looked completely content to just sit there and watch the world pass by, but there were times when I looked over and could see that, even in the dark, his eyes seemed sad. I wanted to say something to make everything better, but I didn't dare interrupt the peacefulness that was surrounding us.

The only times the silence was broken was when Roxas would point out directions to me. The last directions he gave were to turn down a street that we came across just after we got off the bridge. He directed me to take another left, and before I knew it we were pulling up in front of South Bay Apartments. I almost wanted to drive right past the place just to make the moment last, but I knew it had to end sometime.

When the car came to a stop right in front of the apartment complex, Roxas looked like he'd never been so excited about anything before. It made my heart swell knowing that I was the one who made it possible for him to feel that way. He unbuckled and got out of the car without a sound, and just when I thought he was going to leave without saying anything, he leaned down to look back into the car.

"Thanks."

"It's no problem." I waved him off. "Do you need me to come back and pick you up or something?" I didn't want to sound too desperate, like I wanted to come back and see him again, even though I really did.

"Nah, I'll probably just stay the night here." He glanced over his shoulder, and I could tell he was really anticipating seeing his friends.

"You should go see your friends." I said it, but what I really wanted to say was: '_you should really stay with me forever._'

"Yea...I should." He still didn't move and instead looked down at ground. I could hear his shoes scraping over the cement. "You're alright, Axel."

He echoed the exact same words I'd said to Kairi earlier in the evening, and I wasn't expecting to hear anything like that from Roxas. "Yea…so are you."

He looked back up at me, and for a brief second I got a glimpse of his smile. It was a genuine one that lit up the darkness and made me feel all warm and content. I wanted the feeling to last forever, but before I knew it, the car door was shutting and Roxas was scurrying off to his friend's apartment for a night of normalcy that he probably hadn't experienced in a while.

It took me a few seconds to catch my breath and even longer to start the car again. The effect that Roxas had on me and the way he made me feel was something I would never get tired of.

When I pulled out onto the highway again, even though I was the only one in the car and there were hardly any other cars on the road, I didn't feel alone. And the town I had once thought was dull and boring had never felt more like home.

* * *

**I was going to wait a while longer to publish this chapter but I figured what the heck! This is the longest chapter I've ever written. I didn't plan for it to be this long it just happened. I've started the fifth chapter already but I'm feeling a little uninspired at the moment and it's just not coming out the way I want it to. I hate when that happens.**

**Once again, thank you so much for all your lovely reviews. Each one of them puts a smile on my face! And thanks to anyone who even bothers to read this story. I still find it amazing that people like my ideas and writing.**

**On a random note, Hocus Pocus is the best Halloween movie ever. Seriously. I watch it every year without fail.**

**Let me know what you guys think! **

**:)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

I was sitting in my seat, clutching onto the armrest with one hand and squeezing the ever-loving shit out of Zexion's arm with the other. To say that I was nervous would be an understatement. I was totally and utterly frightened beyond all comprehension.

I kept my eyes staring straight ahead, focusing on the back of the seat in front of me, not even bothering to glance out the window because the first and only time I'd done that I almost lost the entire contents of my stomach. The clouds passing by were enough to cement my fear without having to look down and see just how high up we actually were. Thirty thousand feet to be exact, but who was keeping track?

"Axel, you're cutting off my circulation," my best friend struggled to say through the pain I was causing him, but I still didn't let go of his arm.

"I can't believe you've never been on a plane before!" The excited voice came from in front of me, and I barely raised my head up to see Riku leaning over the back of his seat, hair hanging down and nearly hiding his face from view, looking at me in disbelief.

That's right, in twenty-three years of life on this planet I had never before had the pleasure of soaring across the sky in an airplane. When would I have ever gotten the chance? When my mom was working her second job, or how about when my dad didn't even think to come home for days on end? Like I said, I'd never been out of my hometown before, and there I was doing two things that were absolutely brand new to me; flying and leaving Radiant Garden.

Why was I in a plane heading for Gagazet? Well, there's a simple explanation for that, and it has something to do with a short, blue-eyed blond and his easily excitable brother.

It started out as a perfectly normal day. Maybe it wasn't normal in every sense of the word, but it was still pretty ordinary. I had a few days off of work because the bakery was closed. Marluxia and Larxene finally decided to take a trip they'd been planning. I didn't even know they were close enough to take vacations together, but I always thought there was a little something more going on between them behind closed doors. Just exactly what was happening behind said doors, I did not want to know. I would save those thoughts and images for a time when I wanted to make myself physically ill.

So, I was sitting there on my couch in the living room with Zexion on that semi-normal day. He got off of work early that afternoon because the Smoothie King finally decided to stop being lame and hired a couple of new employees. My roommate, despite having some extra help, was pretty pissed. He said the two new kids were a couple of high school girls that had no idea what they were doing, so he had to wind up helping them constantly, and they spent the majority of the time gossiping about stuff he didn't care about instead of actually doing their jobs. Needless to say, Yuffie fit right in with them.

Zexion was reading a book as per usual, and I was just mindlessly flipping through the channels on the TV. I just kept flipping and flipping, not even bothering to pay attention to what was actually on. Even though I wasn't too much of a TV person in the first place, it wasn't because there was nothing on that I couldn't pick a channel and stick to it. It was the fact that I had a one track mind, which at that moment was only capable of thinking about Roxas and Halloween night.

It had been two whole weeks since that evening, and I hadn't seen or heard from any of the Strife family since. I didn't get too discouraged, though, because in the back of my mind I had hope that Sora would pop out of nowhere and bring everyone together again. I just had a feeling that I'd be hearing from the brunette when I least expected it.

As if my thoughts were magic, at that exact moment Zexion's cell phone started to ring, and lo and behold, it was Sora calling to save the day. Apparently, my best friend had given his number to the brunette star at the party. He was calling to invite us to their cabin in Gagazet.

After my roommate handed the phone to me, it took a few seconds for Sora to catch his breath. He was so excited, telling me all about how awesome it was in Gagazet and about all the stuff there was to do there. Eventually, I was able to calm him down and receive some information. The trip was a last minute decision, and they were leaving that same afternoon by plane. Sora then proceeded to tell me that I had to go because Roxas liked me. My heart stopped beating as soon as he said it, then he told me that the blond wasn't very good at making friends. He didn't have very many and apparently my friendship would be good for him. My heart started to pump blood as normal when I heard the word 'friends', but I still couldn't turn down the offer. I don't think there was ever any doubt in my mind that I was going to go. I would have done just about anything to hang out with Roxas and his friends and family again.

Besides that, Sora would have never taken no for an answer. He was the kind of person that would kill you with kindness until you couldn't stand it anymore and just gave in. He was dead set on my friends and I joining them on the trip, and I was dead set on helping to make that happen, so it all worked out in the end.

Somehow, in a way unlike the reality I'd always known, everything just seemed to fall into place. Yuffie and Zexion managed to get the same days at work off, and Demyx and I were already free thanks to our boss's perfect timing. We were all waiting at mine and Zexion's apartment complex when the limo pulled up, not even two hours after I'd gotten off the phone with Sora.

We made it to the airport and entered through a closed off entrance. We didn't even have to wait in any lines or wait for any flights because Kairi's father had allowed us to use one of his company planes. Everything was going smoothly until we boarded the thing and we were all seated and strapped in. That's when the engine started and the plane began taxing around the runway, and that's the exact moment when I lost any sanity I'd had to begin with.

It started off with me telling myself I would be fine despite the rapid beating of my heart. Then, as the plane turned around and readied itself for take off, it escalated into sharp and shaky breaths that I couldn't keep inside. As the plane started heading down the runway and gaining speed, my shaky breaths turned into short gasps and my hands started trembling. And by the time we were lifting off the ground and the engine was roaring in my ears, I was beyond the point of no return, clutching onto anything within my reach and begging and pleading for the airplane to turn around so I could get off. Somehow, I was able to hold the tears inside, but I could feel them threatening to pour down the sides of my face. I was the true definition of a hot mess.

It didn't even register at the time that I was making a complete ass of myself and the object of my desire and curiosity was sitting not even five feet away, probably thinking I was some kind of whack job. I mean, seriously, who freaks out like that? Apparently, I do.

It took a good ten minutes for Zexion to get me to the point where I was at least able to feel like I could take a breath without choking on the air, and it was then that I became slightly aware of the scene I'd just made. I figured that was the final time I would be invited anywhere with Roxas and the rest of the gang. The last thing they needed was to hang out with some kind of spastic freak who would just bring even more unnecessary attention to them then they already had.

"Not all of us can be millionaire jet setters like you," Zexion defended me to Riku who was snickering down at me.

Sora's head popped up over the seat right next to his friend's, and he looked down at me with pity. "It's not that bad," he assured me. "We've been flying for forty-five minutes now and nothing's happened!"

"Anything could happen between now and our landing time, though." I heard Demyx's voice coming from the seats behind me, but I was still too frozen in fear to turn around. "You know, I've heard stories about planes running right into huge storms…"

I heard a smacking sound followed by Demyx whining and figured Yuffie had gotten a hold of him. I made a mental note to thank her once my feet were safely planted on the ground. "That's not going to help at all," the girl chastised.

"I was just making conversation," my co-worker defended himself.

"That's not the kind of conversation someone practically having a heart attack already needs to hear." Cloud, who was in the opposite aisle and seat across from Sora and Riku, spoke up. At first I thought he was going to act like a normal person, but then I heard the amusement in his voice. "Just think; if something really did happen to poor Axel, we'd have no way of saving him."

"Yea, we're _thousands _of miles up in the sky without a doctor in sight." Kadaj, who was sitting next to Cloud, decided to join in on the teasing.

"We could always pretend like Sora here was a doctor, and he could work his magic on Axel." Riku mused to himself for a second, and then a sinister smile lit up his face. "And Roxas could be the nurse. You know, one of those naughty nurses."

Roxas started sputtering from his seat which was directly across the aisle from mine. He was sitting next to Naminé. Had the situation been drastically different I would have been more than slightly annoyed, but as it was, I was too busy fearing for my life and plotting ways to make everyone who was making fun of me suffer once I was able to function normally again. Although, at the same time, I figured I shouldn't really blame them because I would have been doing the exact same thing if I was in their shoes and it was, say, Demyx losing his shit. But that didn't matter too much to me at thirty thousand feet above the ground.

"How about everyone just shut up?" I barely opened my lips while speaking. "All this talking is going to shake the plane, and we're going to wind up flying straight into the side of a mountain." My voice sounded so unlike my own that I almost wasn't sure if I'd been the one who actually spoke.

In my frenzied state what I'd said sounded completely plausible, but in hindsight it was absolutely ridiculous. Despite my being wholly serious, everyone else started to laugh. Even Zexion, who'd had my back the entire time and hardly ever got hysterical over anything, was clutching his stomach with the one arm I wasn't holding captive.

My brow furrowed slightly, but before I really had the chance to get aggravated, I heard something that caused all my fears and irritation to just melt away. It was like music to my ears, a soft, calming melody that soothed me to the core. It was a warm breeze flowing past and filling me up with all the sounds and smells of the perfect summer. Something that made me feel like instead of speeding through the sky at an unimaginable speed, I was floating safely on a big fluffy cloud made of cotton candy and eating the most glorious ice cream I'd ever had the pleasure of tasting.

The sound of Roxas's laughter did what nothing else in the world could have accomplished. It allowed me to finally exhale a clear, calming breath that I'd been holding in for the longest time, release my friend's arm that I'd probably bruised beyond repair, and for the first time since we'd taken off, I smiled.

* * *

Two hours later when we finally landed at the Gagazet airport, I had to stop from myself from falling to my knees and kissing the ground. I was so glad to be back on solid earth that I probably would have even slipped it the tongue. Thankfully, upon landing I had regained all of my common sense and composure. That was a good thing seeing as everything was frozen over with ice and snow.

That was the second thing that caught my eye after my more than happy landing. It hadn't been snowing in Radiant Garden yet, but in Gagazet the small white flakes were floating down gracefully from the sky and landing in piles beside my feet. I'd always enjoyed the snow, and winter was always my favorite season. I know, everyone thinks the winter season is dreary and depressing, but to me it was always so much more thrilling than, say, spring. Of course, I liked the springtime, too. But something about the cold wind whipping through my hair, dancing across my face and freezing my nose made me feel alive.

It didn't take long for us to retrieve our luggage, get our rental cars and eventually arrive at the Strife's cabin. Cabin…right. It was the grandest cabin I'd ever seen, and I don't know why I was expecting anything less. I guess I still wasn't used to all the luxuries that came along with being famous. No one else seemed to really care that the place was freaking gigantic because as soon as we got out of the cars, they were already making their ways inside. That's the thing with rich people, stuff like a cabin the size of a football field doesn't really mean too much to them, but to the rest of us regular people it can really make you take a step back and just stare in awe. That's what I was doing as soon as I got out of the second rental car and saw, in full view, the place that I was going to be staying for the next two days.

"You gonna stand out here all day long?" The voice brought me back to reality, and I looked around to see that no one else was outside anymore except for the silver-haired male who was standing next to me and staring at me inquisitively. "Well, are you," he asked again when I didn't answer.

"No." I grabbed the handle of my suitcase and started to walk away, but I was stopped by Riku grabbing my arm. I turned back around to see what he wanted, and the look on his face did it's best to disturb me. He definitely had something on his mind. "Didn't you just ask if I was going to continue standing out here, and now you're stopping me?"

"Yea, well…" I could see by the look in his eyes that he was just stretching things along so he could wait for the perfect moment to attack. The smirk that played on his lips confirmed my suspicions. He was definitely about to say something I didn't want to hear. "You have a thing for Roxas, don't you?"

That, I was not expecting. I was so stunned by what he'd said that his words felt like a physical blow, and it took me a few seconds to recover. "What?"

"So you admit you have a thing for Roxas?" Riku pointed an accusing finger at me.

"Um…no…what?" I cleared my throat and tried to reclaim the ability to form sentences. "I…don't have a _thing_ for him. You're insane." I gave him a final weary glance then turned around to leave. I wanted to get away as fast as possible because he was dangerously close to the truth, a truth I wasn't eager to admit.

"Then you're in denial," Riku called out after me, and I heard his shoes crunching the snow beneath them as he ran to catch up to me.

"No, I'm not," I huffed at him as I gripped my suitcase tighter and tried to put distance between us.

But Riku wasn't about to let it go that easily because he jumped in front of me and blocked my way up the front stairs. His actions were so like mine that it almost felt as if I was fighting a losing battle against myself. "You're denying that you're in denial."

I rolled my eyes. "I am not denying that I'm in denial."

"You're denying that you're in denial about having a thing for Roxas." I'm not even sure Riku understood exactly what he was saying.

"Riiiight…" I pushed my way past the star, hoping that I could get away while he was still pondering his own words.

As soon as I made it onto the porch and placed my hand on the door handle, Riku spoke up again. "You might think you're hiding it well, and maybe everyone else is too blind to see it, but you can't fool me that easily."

I whipped back around to find Riku still standing at the bottom of the steps, but unlike before his face was completely serious. I'd lost the battle. If I had a white flag I would have been waving it because there was nothing else I could think of doing except surrendering.

Standing there and staring at the silver-haired male, I almost felt like he could see everything I was thinking. I don't know why it never crossed my mind that other people could observe things the way I did, could see right through me like I did with others. It never crossed my mind that maybe my actions were almost as obvious as Demyx's when he was around my roommate. That was a scary thought. It made me feel like I paid so much attention to other people that I hardly knew anything about my own actions, and it took Riku to point that out to me.

I heard the front door open, and it took my attention off of Riku. "What are you doing out here, Axel…and Riku…" I turned back to see Sora standing halfway out the door. He was looking between me and his friend, who was already walking past me and into the cabin. "Uh…c'mon, I'll show you your room," the brunette said hesitantly, but he didn't bother to ask any more questions about what was going on between me and Riku before he showed up.

The inside of the cabin was larger than life but actually felt really snug and inviting. It was fairly different from the Strife's mansion, where despite being awesome, it didn't quite feel like a home. To me the mansion just seemed kind of untouchable and a little too perfect. But the cabin was just perfect, in a not so perfect way.

When I walked through the front door, I was greeted by a big, open living room to the left and a huge kitchen area to the right. A fire was already crackling away in the fireplace and filling the whole area with the scent of burning logs and a warmness that just seemed to embrace me and make me feel like everything was going to be alright, even though nothing had necessarily been wrong in the first place.

As I followed Sora towards the stairwell, I noticed that most everyone was already sitting around the living room and chatting away. Even Riku had already made himself comfortable sitting in-between Naminé and Kairi. I watched him as I walked by. He looked up, his eyes met mine, and I couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling that crept up my spine as I was held under his knowing gaze.

We made it to the second floor, and Sora led me down a pretty long hallway to a door that was way down at the other end on the left. "This is your room," he said as he opened the door, and I saw Zexion sitting on the end of one of the two king-sized beds, digging though his suitcase. "I figured you'd want to share it with Zexion," he informed me with a smile and took off running back down the hall.

"This room is bigger than our whole apartment," My best friend said to me as he leaned back on the bed and stared up at the ceiling.

"Yea…" I walked into the room and took a look around. Everything was so fancy and expensive looking as usual when it came to anything the Strife's owned. Our apartment really did pale in comparison to the cabin, let alone that one room. I tried to think of something else to say, but I couldn't keep the thoughts of my encounter with Riku from creeping back in.

"Is something on your mind," Zexion asked as he leaned himself up on his elbows.

I was just about ready to confess everything right there, just spill it all about how I was feeling or how I _thought_ I was feeling about Roxas. About how I just wasn't sure exactly what to think about the short blond even though he was all I could think about. About how I'd become so interested in the hidden thoughts and feelings of other people that maybe somewhere along the way I seemed to have lost myself.

I had it all planned out, exactly how I was going to tell my friend everything, but the jiggling of a door handle and the excited muffled voices sounding out from behind it killed my motivation.

I peered over at the door that I had assumed to be a closet then looked over my shoulder at Zexion curiously. He just rolled his eyes like he knew exactly was going on. I didn't get the chance to ask anything because suddenly the door busted open and screams filled the air as Yuffie and Demyx came tumbling into the room. They both landed on the floor at my feet.

"I told you I would do it," Yuffie groaned as she lifted herself off of the floor and clutched onto her wrist.

"I think I know how to open a door," Demyx exclaimed and used my arm as leverage to help himself up.

The girl straightened out her shirt and blew a piece of hair out of her eyes before staring at my co-worker incredulously. "Then how come you couldn't get it opened until I helped push it?"

"It was stuck!" The blond threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. His voice was so high-pitched that I was pretty sure everyone within a five mile radius could have heard him. "And not everyone has crazy strength like you." He stopped to think to himself. "How can you even be that strong?"

Yuffie ignored him completely as she bounced onto Zexion's bed and wrapped her arms around him. "We have adjoining rooms," she informed when she laid her head on my roommate's shoulder. "Well, sort of. Technically, we're sharing a bathroom."

"Yea, and your bathroom door is a piece of shit," Demyx said as he nudged said door with his foot and glared at it with contempt.

That made me chuckle. Something of the Strife's not working properly just struck a chord in me. I guess not everything they owned was as perfect as I thought. I looked through the door for the first time and, sure enough, there was a bathroom. Smaller and less sparkly then the one I'd seen at Roxas' parents house but still pretty damn big in it's own right. Across the room I saw the other door that connected to the room that Yuffie and Demyx were sharing. That was just what I needed, a direct connection to the two most hyper people I knew. Zexion and I would be lucky if we ever got a moments peace. I had a feeling with the two crazy twins rooming next door, times of silence would be few and far between.

And then suddenly my thoughts were drawn away. It was annoying how even something as simple as rooming situations easily brought my thoughts back to Roxas. I couldn't help but wonder what room he was staying in and who he was rooming with. The logical part of my brain wanted to say he was sharing one with Sora, but the irrational part that probably proved I was a little too insane for my own good kept nagging at me and making me believe he was going to be with Naminé. With Naminé at night. Alone. In a bedroom. With beds. Or even worse, just one bed.

My thoughts were spiraling downwards and my mood with them until I found comfort in the most unlikely of voices. It dragged me from the unwanted and hideous visions my brain was making up of Roxas and Naminé and beds and back into the safe confines of reality where it was daylight and no one was sleeping, and what room Roxas was staying in was still unknown.

"Don't make me stay with him. He's crazy!" Yuffie whined into Zexion's shoulder, and Demyx scoffed at her accusations. "Let me stay in here with you!"

"Nice try, Yuffie," I said as I claimed the bed opposite of where her and my best friend were laying. "But I'm staying right here. I quite like this room."

"It looks exactly the same as the other one." She shot up and pointed across the way. "There's no difference between them!"

"There is a difference." I smirked at the girl when I leaned back and propped my feet up on the bed she was sitting on. My legs were long enough to cross the gap of space between the two beds. Maybe it was lame, but I took pride in that.

"And what's that?"

"You're not in it."

Her eyes narrowed, and with all the swiftness of a tiger approaching it's next victim, she knocked my feet off the bed, which set me off balance and caused me to fall to the wooden floor with a thud. My head hit the side of my mattress on the way down and shook me up a bit, so I was completely unaware of my surroundings when Yuffie attacked. She was on top of me in less than a second. It always amazed me how her movements, despite being wild, were lightning fast and appeared so graceful. Once she had me pinned underneath her and held in place by her knees, she stared down at me with that gleam in her eyes that she always got when she took control.

She lifted both of her hands in the air, and just when I thought that she was going to change her mind, I was assaulted by her fingertips. And by assaulted I mean tickled, but Yuffie might as well have been throwing punches because I happened to be one of the most ticklish people on the planet. I cursed myself for letting that slip out in one of our random conversations because she used that weakness of mine to her advantage whenever it suited her.

Her fingers felt light as feathers as they danced in chaotic patterns all over any and all skin she could find. I was wiggling, squirming, laughing and trying to catch my breath all at the same time, but nothing was bringing me any relief. I reached for the bed, for the blankets, for my friend's leg, which he conveniently shifted farther away from me, but I could not get a firm grasp on anything. I could tell that Yuffie was enjoying herself greatly and had no intentions of stopping because her giggles were filling my ears and her hands never stopped searching for places on my body to attack.

She would tickle my stomach, and before I could reach out and grab her hands she moved them with ease to my sides. It was becoming unbearable. I begged Zexion, through my gasping breaths, to help me, but being the sadistic bastard that he was, he just sat there and smirked at my torture. I eventually bucked my hips forward to try and knock the girl off of me, but she didn't budge and instead fell forward so our faces were almost touching.

The extreme tickling finally came to an end, but neither one of us moved. We were both just lying there, practically face to face and trying to catch our breaths. It was all completely innocent, but to anyone who happened to just walk in it probably would have looked a lot more intense than what it actually was. That's why, when I heard the door open, I scrambled to get out from under the girl. I caught Yuffie in a rare moment where she was off her guard and sent her toppling over.

I knew it was rude, but I was so panicked when I saw who exactly was at the door that I didn't even bother to help the girl up. I jumped to my feet and attempted to look like I was completely calm and not flustered in the least, but from the looks on the two almost identical faces, I could see that my efforts had gone to waste. Sora and Roxas stood side by side in the doorway, looking into the room.

As soon I saw their faces, I knew I hadn't been quick enough and they'd seen the whole thing minus the tickling. And if you took the tickling out of the equation what you were left with was something that could be easily misinterpreted. Sora was easy to read. He wore his emotions for all to see, and I could clearly tell by his expression that he was highly entertained by what he'd just seen. Roxas, on the other hand, was as puzzling as ever. I swore I saw a bit of jealousy in his eyes, but I figured that was just my imagination and wishful thinking, so I closed my eyes for a second. When I opened them up again that emotion was gone from his face. That is, if it had ever been there in the first place. In any case, I could tell that my panicked actions of jumping up and sending Yuffie flying to the floor had caused more attention than was necessary and definitely made it seem like I'd been caught in the act of something.

I cleared my throat and lowered my shirt that had been pushed up, exposing my stomach. "That was…I mean, we were…that is…" I grabbed the back of my neck and desperately tried to finish the sentence, but Roxas' eyes boring into me were causing my nerves to take control of my mouth.

"I was tickling the bastard because that's a serious weakness of his." Even though she was informing the two at the door about what happened, Yuffie was looking at me when she said it. She knew what she was doing. Acting all innocent by explaining the situation while at the same time releasing that information about me being ticklish as a subtle way at getting back at me, yet again.

I narrowed my eyes at her before turning to the two siblings. "Yea, it was just tickling…"

"Wait!" Yuffie interrupted me with a shout and then proceeded to start laughing. "Wait just a second! You're actually trying to explain that something wasn't going on between us? Between you and me? You have got to be kidding me." She doubled over in hysterics and had to sit to keep herself from falling down.

I glared at her, but she wasn't paying attention. Even if she had been, nothing could stop her from running her mouth. "That's enough, Yuffie."

She was laying her head on Zexion's lap and clutching onto her stomach, but despite my prayers she still was able to find her voice. "Do you actually believe anyone thinks that you like girls?" She sat back up with the help of my best friend's hands. "I mean, seriously, Red. There is absolutely nothing about you that is not completely gay."

I heard Demyx join in on the laughter from where he was still standing by the door that didn't quite function correctly. I vowed then, that I would get him back as well.

I don't know what kind of reaction I was expecting to get from the two brothers about my sexuality, but their expressions remained almost exactly the same as when they first arrived. It's not like I kept being gay a secret. I was pretty open about it, actually, but I'd never actually gotten around to telling Sora, Roxas or any of the others. Apparently, I hadn't needed to because from the lack of response from the both of them it already seemed to be a well known fact. That wasn't even the reason I wanted to explain myself, though. Mostly, I just didn't want Roxas to think that I liked anyone else, which I guess was kind of dumb considering he didn't even know how I felt about him in the first place. At least, I didn't think so. My conversation with Riku had my mind all messed up.

"Anyways…" The first word from either of the two guests came from Sora. "We're all going down to head down to the café, so we'll meet you guys downstairs in a few minutes, ok?" He smiled and nodded before leaving.

Roxas lingered in the doorway, watching me curiously for a minute, like he was unsure of what he wanted to do. I got the feeling he wanted to stick around, but before I knew it he was walking away, leaving my friends and I alone again.

I walked to the door, but before I walked out completely I turned around and smirked at my friends. "I have an idea about the room situation." I knew I was entering dangerous territory, but that was the whole point. "Maybe Zexion should share the room with Demyx?"

My best friend froze, Demyx froze, and as far as either of them knew, they were the only ones with knowledge of anything going on between them or what _wasn't_ going on. My co-worker thought he was the only one who knew of his feelings for Zexion, but he was sadly mistaken. Not only had I caught on ages ago, but I could tell over the past week since the Halloween party that Zexion had become quite aware of it himself. It had to be something at the party that clued him in even more, and I was somewhat sad that I'd missed the big event. Only slightly, though, because the time I got to spend with Roxas was worth missing out on whatever stupid thing Demyx had done. There would always be more crazy Demyx moments to witness.

The only person who was completely clueless, at least just for the moment if all went as planned, was Yuffie. The girl looked perplexed by the reactions that my words elicited from the two other males, but I could see the gears working overtime in her head, and I knew it would be merely seconds before the bomb went off. She looked back and forth between the two confusedly, then as if she suddenly had a great epiphany that caused her to see everything clearly, her face lit up with understanding and she looked like she just discovered a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

I felt proud of myself, but my task was only halfway accomplished. There would be time for Yuffie to hassle my two friends later, but there was still something else I had planned. That plan was specially thought of for the small, hyper-active girl.

"I'm going to go now," I informed everyone in the room as I stepped one foot out the door and readied myself. I didn't get any response even though the room was silent. Demyx and Zexion were still stuck in place, and Yuffie was busy trying to form her words. "On the way out I think I'll find Cloud and Kadaj…" Yuffie's head snapped around instantly, and I got her full attention. "I think there's a little something they need to know about."

I got my point across because the girl leapt off the bed and lunged in my direction, but I was already making my way down the hall and heading for the stairs by the time she made it out of the room. It was almost exactly like the time she chased me to the costume shop, and it made me smile. My plan was a true success.

* * *

The section of Gagazet where we were staying was actually a little community called: The Villages. Inside of The Villages was everything you could possibly need. At least for a vacation, which was what the place was intended for. Huge cabins, much like the Strife's, were scattered across the whole area, and in the middle of it all there was an area where small businesses were located. There was a grocery store, a gift shop and the café that we went to.

The place was pretty decent in size and packed with customers. I got the feeling that it was a pretty popular hangout. It was filled to the brim with the aromas of coffee, pastries and hot chocolate. I was beginning to think that everything in Gagazet was made to make you feel like you were right at home, and whatever they were doing worked because as soon as I walked through the doors of Twilight Café I felt like I never wanted to leave.

There weren't any tables large enough to seat eleven people, so we took our seats at a couple of booths that were right next to each other. I did my utmost best to secure a spot at Roxas' table, and it only took some quick thinking and a few gentle shoves to make it happen. I got a few wary stares from my friends in response and one annoying grin from a silver-haired mind reader, but all that really mattered was that I was finally near the youngest Strife sibling again.

It had felt like forever since the last time we'd been as close physically as we were when we sat down next to each other in the booth next to the window. The whole beginning of the trip Roxas always felt just out of my grasp. On the plane he was across the aisle, we were both in separate rental cars on the way to and from the cabin, and even when he was standing at the door to mine and Zexion's room he was so close, yet still so far away.

I hadn't even said one word to him since Halloween night, and somehow that space of time had brought back all the nerves I felt when I first stood on the porch with the blond not knowing anything about him. I felt like I was starting over, and anything I had thought of saying when I got the chance to was stuck in my throat along with my heart.

It was strange how I was becoming closer to everyone else, Sora, Kairi and even Riku. But the one person who I wanted to be close to the most was always just a little too out of reach. That had to change.

The conversations had started all around our table and the one next to it. Riku was leaning over the table and shouting something across the way to his brother and Cloud. I could hear Yuffie's loud voice in the background as she bent over the back of her booth and the giggles of Naminé and Kairi. I even heard Sora trying to get someone to pay attention to him, but I blocked it all out and focused my attention on Roxas.

The boy was busy picking at a piece of paper, which advertised all the different types of desserts they served at the café, that had been sitting on the table. I knew it was my chance to say something. I was tired of letting moments pass by, so I gathered all my thoughts and opened my mouth to speak.

"Roxas—"

"What's your favorite color?" He looked up and threw the paper he was holding across the table as he interrupted me.

I hadn't been expecting him to say anything, so his innocent yet random question threw me for a loop. "What?" I questioned, without even really thinking about what he'd asked. I tended to do that when I was caught off guard. Someone could ask me something as easy as: 'what color is the sky?' and if I wasn't expecting it I'd sit there as if I had no idea what the answer was, like some kind of imbecile.

"What is your favorite color?" He asked the question slower and in a tone of voice one would use when asking a question to a child who didn't understand or to someone who barely had a grasp on the English language. His condescending tone might have been offensive to someone else, but it just endeared him to me even more. Any attention he gave me I was going to accept with open arms. "I thought since you're always hanging around I should at least know _something_ about you," he added.

"Of all the things in the world to ask, you ask me something as trivial as what my favorite color is?" I tried to casually lay my arm on the top of the seat behind Roxas' head. He didn't seem to notice because he was too busy defending his question.

"Favorite colors are important!" he exclaimed indignantly. "And what are you? Some kind of question…judger or something?"

"A question judger?" I laughed. "What does that even mean?"

"Fine. Don't answer it then." He turned back around and focused his attention on the huge window that was right in front of us.

"No, no…wait. I'll answer it." I removed my arm from the back of the seat and grabbed onto his shoulder to turn him around in a desperate attempt to bring his attention back to me, to have those eyes looking at me again.

The moment my hand made contact with Roxas, he spun around so harshly that I thought I was about to get punched in the nose. Instead the look on his face was just one of surprise, like he hadn't expected me to touch him like that. Hell, I hadn't even expected myself to do it but it just happened without any warnings.

It was the first time we'd ever had any physical contact, and I swear I felt something in the touch. I know, I always thought it was lame when people said they could feel the electricity between them and someone else, but sitting there with my hand on Roxas' shoulder and seeing his blue eyes staring into mine, I was almost willing to admit that I could feel the sparks. Almost.

Time flew by, second after second vanished into thin air and neither one of us dared to move or break the contact. We could have been sitting there like that for hours for all I knew because touching Roxas, as pure of a touch as it was, and the intense eye contact we were sharing, made the concept of time fly right out the window. In fact, it made everything around us seem to evaporate. I could no longer hear the shouting and laughter of our friends. I didn't even realize exactly where we were anymore. The only thing I could see, hear or feel was Roxas. He was filling up all my senses, and I was drowning in him. His perfectly azure eyes were drawing me farther and farther into everything I wanted and yet was trying to avoid at the same time.

I felt like at any moment I was going to lose any hold I still had on reality and the fact that I couldn't allow myself fall any deeper into my infatuation with the boy in front of me. I was already starting to lose my grip. I could feel myself gasping for air and beginning to panic when, somehow, I was finally able to pull myself out of my trance and tear my eyes away. I put my head down immediately and took a deep breath to try and compose myself. I took my hand from Roxas' shoulder and hoped the trembling wasn't noticeable.

When I was finally able to look back up, Roxas was still looking at me inquisitively, waiting for me to answer the question. I couldn't help but wonder if behind it all, in the deepest parts of his mind he was feeling the same way I was. Was he struggling to keep himself afloat? Was he experiencing the same kinds of feelings for the first time just like me? I knew I wasn't going to get an answer because the blond was too complex for anything to be solved that easily, so I decided to try and act as normal as possible and just answer the question.

"My favorite color is gre—" I stopped myself there and chanced another glance at Roxas' eyes before altering my answer. "Blue. My favorite color is blue. What's yours?"

He stared at me a few lingering moments before answering with a smile that was just barely there. "Red."

I could have sworn there was something else behind his answer, but I didn't get much time to ponder it because Sora had finally found a way to get everyone's attention. He was standing on the seat right next to me and clearing his throat. As soon as we all noticed his actions, everything went silent.

"Everyone is looking at you," Riku informed with a smirk as he leaned back and rested his arms behind his head.

"I'm used to everyone staring anyways." Sora waved off his friend and straightened himself up so he towered over us all even more. "I have to resort to drastic measures when no one pays attention to me!" He shot some playful glares down at us.

"I was listening to you," Cloud called out over his shoulder.

"Ha!" Sora turned around sharply and nearly lost his balance. I reached out a hand instinctively to stop him from falling, but Riku was quicker than me. He caught the brunette by the wrist and helped to steady him. By the time he was standing safely on his own two feet, he seemed to have forgotten whatever it was he was going to say to his brother. Once you spent enough time around Sora it was easy to see that he didn't have a very long attention span. How he ever got through the long, grueling hours of filming a movie, I'll never know. "We've been sitting here for all of ten minutes and I still don't know what everyone wants to eat."

The responses he got varied from a few quiet mumbles to shouts sounding out over one another. Nothing legible could be made out from the scattering of voices, but it was clear that everyone was thinking about having something different. Sora's face dropped when he realized that he wasn't getting anywhere. He was discovering the harsh realities of trying to control a group as large as ours.

"OK!" He yelled out over the commotion. I could see the proud look on his face as everything got quiet again. "How about I just order a bunch of random stuff and we can just share and eat whatever?" Everyone seemed to agree, so Sora hopped off the seat he was standing on and turned around to look at the blond sitting next to me. "Roxas, come with me."

I saw Roxas' shoulders fall slightly, but he still pushed me out of the booth so he could join his brother. "Why couldn't you just ask Cloud," he whined once he was standing next to Sora

"Because I love you more," the star replied as he wrapped an arm around his younger sibling's neck and pulled him closer so he could ruffle his hair.

"I heard that," Cloud called out as Sora and Roxas started to walk away, but the brunette just turned around and stuck his tongue out.

I realized as I sat back down and watched Roxas and Sora make their way over to the line that had formed in front of the counter that I wanted to be over there with them. I scooted over again to get out of the booth, and I noticed Riku watching me with that same damn annoying look on his face. The one that made me think he knew everything I was doing and all of my intentions for doing it.

"I'm just going to see if they need help, you know, like, carrying anything." I pulled that excuse out of my ass, but it actually sounded plausible enough to anyone who had no idea of my feelings for Roxas. So, naturally, it did nothing to pacify Riku.

"Sure you are," The silver-haired star replied smugly. Kairi and Naminé, who were sitting at my table, started to look at me curiously as soon as Riku opened his annoying mouth. Luckily, the other table had gone back to their own conversation, so they were none the wiser to what was going on.

I figured I wouldn't incriminate myself any further by saying something stupid, so I just left it at that and walked away, leaving the table and Riku, who was probably patting himself on the back for a job well done, behind.

I walked up right behind Sora and Roxas as they were looking up at the menu. "Have you guys decided on what to get?"

They both turned around to face me and neither looked surprised that I was there. Either I was becoming horribly predictable, or it was proof that I was just becoming part of the group. Roxas turned back to observe the menu again as Sora informed me of the plans.

"I'm thinking we definitely for sure have to get hot chocolate!" His eyes lit up like a child talking about how the tooth fairy left him a dollar under his pillow. "And I dunno what else…maybe some soup? They have to most awesome soup here, like, ever!"

He stopped, turned back around to look at the menu again, and the line moved forward. When he faced me again he opened his mouth to speak, but the happiness all but melted away and was replaced by a look of concern as he seemed to be looking right past me. I followed his gaze and turned around to see him staring at a group of young people about our age, who had just entered through the door.

"Is that who I think it is?" He asked, never taking his eyes off the group.

That caught Roxas' attention. "What are you talking abo—" As soon as he noticed whoever his brother was talking about, his eyes widened, and much like Sora, his whole mood changed completely. At first his lips tightened, then his eyes narrowed. I saw a flash of hurt cross over his face. It was brief, but it still filled me with rage that someone had caused him to feel that way. "Yea, that's him," he responded to his brother's question curtly before turning back around.

Sora looked a bit longer at the group before reluctantly walking up to the counter to give his order. That left me standing there completely confused. I watched the people a bit longer. There were two boys and two girls. They were obviously a pair of couples. I paid special attention to the males of the group because Roxas had said 'he'. The taller of the two was a guy with orangeish color hair that sort of stuck up at a point in the front. He was laughing at something and had his arm wrapped around a woman dressed all in black. The second was a boy with shaggy blond hair and a permanent smile etched into his face. He was holding onto the hand of a skinny girl with short, brunette hair. Neither one of them looked like the kind of person that would cause someone pain, but I knew all about looks being deceiving. Even if I didn't, the reactions from Sora and Roxas were a dead giveaway that one of those two guys had definitely done something wrong.

I finally turned back around to look at Roxas. He seemed nervous and a little jumpy. He never stopped tapping his fingers on the counter or shifting his weight back and forth between his feet. Occasionally, he would peer over his shoulder and then look over at Sora as if to tell him to hurry up. He wanted to get out of there badly, that was pretty obvious, but why he was so eager to leave was still a mystery. Of course, it had something to do with one of those two guys, but I was dying to know exactly why. I needed some validation for the anger that was brewing in the pit of my stomach.

It was strange to me that I felt so upset over something that didn't even involve me. It's just for some reason the thought of someone hurting Roxas was unbearable. I never wanted to see him sad or in pain. I wanted to do everything I could to keep that from happening, and the fact that that it already had really annoyed me. I was literally starting to scare myself with how intense my feelings for Roxas had gotten. I was treading on extremely thin ice, and if I wasn't careful I was going to fall right through.

"And will that be for here or to go?" I looked up when I heard the woman behind the counter. Sora glanced over at his brother, confused as how to reply.

"I want to get out of here," Roxas said in a soft voice, and he lowered his head.

"Uh…to go, please," the brunette said politely while he tried to force a smile on his face.

The woman nodded and walked away only to return a few seconds later with two huge bags and three trays of drinks. Roxas grabbed the two bags and practically ran away from the counter. Sora looked at me warily, and I picked up one of the trays that he'd left on the counter.

When we got back to the tables, the youngest Strife was trying to explain that we were leaving, but he wasn't doing much to mollify everyone's uncertainty. "Look, we're getting out of here, ok?" he grumbled irritably.

"But we just got here…" Naminé disputed even though she got up, anyway.

"And now we're leaving." The rude response that Roxas gave to the girl pleased me, but then I immediately felt guilty. I just had to have a conscience. It wasn't really Naminé's fault that I decided to fall for the object of her affection, but I just could not quell the negative feelings I had towards her no matter how hard I tried, which admittedly wasn't very much.

Eventually, we got it together and were that much closer to actually leaving when everything started to go downhill. One second we were waiting for everyone to get up from their seats and passing out the drinks so they were easier to carry and so we could drink them before they got cold, and the next we were being stopped dead in our tracks by the blond boy I'd seen standing by the door earlier.

"Tidus…"

It was Cloud that spoke up once the boy had made his way closer to us. I could tell by the tone of his voice and the looks on everyone's faces that the Tidus guy was the one that Sora and Roxas had been talking about. It took all my self restraint to keep my mouth shut but somehow I managed it. It really wasn't my place to say anything, anyway. I noticed Zexion look at me inquiringly, but I just shrugged back. I had no idea what was going on either.

"Look, I know you probably don't want to see me…" Tidus started out, and Riku let out a wry laugh. That didn't stop the boy from continuing, though. He inched even closer to Roxas, who was standing directly in front of me. The youngest Strife sibling stepped backwards. His back barely pressed up against me momentarily before he realized how close we were and moved forward again. "I just wanted to say—"

"I don't want to hear it," Roxas practically snarled as he shoved the bag of food he was holding into Kadaj's arms and stormed past Tidus and straight out the door.

It was silent for a second before Sora started to lead the way to the exit. I glared at the blond boy when I walked past him and even imagined reaching out and slamming him up against the wall, but I kept it together. Partly because I didn't want to make a scene, and partly because he was looking kind of pitiful.

Tidus began talking again, and Sora stopped abruptly, almost causing us all to slam into each other and start tumbling down like dominoes. "I just…I'm sorry about—"

"Now isn't the time," Sora said firmly, without bothering to so much as look at the boy. It was a rare occurrence that the brunette ever showed his anger, and it was making me feel uncomfortable. The whole situation was unsettling, and I just wanted things to go back to normal. I learned that nothing could be right with the world if Sora was upset. I swear his smile was the reason the sun rose every morning.

Tidus must have realized the seriousness of the situation because he ceased trying to speak and just stood there staring. I almost felt bad for him, but I didn't know the whole story. I was trying hard to resist any judgments, good or bad, until I knew exactly what he'd done.

The group of us started moving again, and just as I was making my way out the door, I heard Cloud, who was trailing behind me, say one last thing, "Tell your father we said hi." The words themselves were polite enough but so filled with malice that they only served to make the situation that much more puzzling and just…heartbreaking.

* * *

**Several times during the process of writing this chapter I felt like just giving up. But I pushed forward and completed it and for that I'm really happy with myself! I put a lot of work into this chapter to make it work so I hope it isn't too bad. Also, originally this was much longer but I decided to split it in half because it was just too lengthy.**

**As always, thank you for the reviews, favorites, and alerts. They mean a lot to me and really help to inspire me to keep going and working on this story! **

**:)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

The whole ride back to the cabin was spent in uncomfortable silence. Despite neither Sora nor Roxas being in the car I was in, hardly a word was spoken, and no one dared to bring up what had just happened with Tidus. Demyx, Zexion and I kept quiet, but it didn't stop us from trading nervous glances with each other.

I was relieved when we finally arrived back at the cabin, and I felt like I was able to take a breath. Things eventually started to loosen up. The tenseness that was once so smothering and killing any chance of a pleasant atmosphere began to fade away. Sora, slowly but surely, got back to his normal cheerfulness, and once that constant was in place everything else followed.

The brunette bounced around the living room, which we were all seated in, setting all the food out on the coffee table with the help of Kairi and urging us to dig in. When everyone grabbed whatever it is they wanted to eat, the familiar sounds of talking and laughing commenced once again. Even though it was quite a commotion, and I had to practically shout to be heard over all the noise, it felt nice that things were back to being relaxed. Even Roxas seemed to forget about all his troubles when he took the first sip of his soup and smiled. I guess Sora was right. It really _was_ the best soup ever.

After we all finished eating, Sora had the brilliant idea to play truth or dare. At first, I was a kind of reluctant to join in. I knew what could happen in games like that. After the stunts I'd pulled on my three friends earlier and the newly discovered knowledge that Riku was well aware of my affection for Roxas, I had a feeling that things could get a little out of hand. Regardless of my better judgment, I decided to play along, anyways. Right from the very beginning it was pretty obvious that 'dare' was already implied and 'truth' was never to be part of the equation in the first place.

"Ok, Kairi," Riku started out first. "I dare you to strip—"

"Whoa, what!" Sora panicked and looked over at his friend like he'd just suggested something completely horrifying. He really was too innocent for his own good sometimes.

"No, wait, wait…" Riku waved the brunette off, sat up on his knees and looked over at Kairi challengingly. "I dare you to strip down to your underwear and run around the house…" The girl looked satisfied with that and stood up to take her jacket off. "…outside," he added in at the last moment.

Kairi, who was in the middle of unbuttoning her shirt, froze, and I saw Sora give a sigh of relief. "It's like freaking negative one hundred degrees out there!" She gestured towards the door with her hand as she continued to stare at the silver-haired male in disbelief.

Riku's smug smirk never faltered. "I know." Kairi still didn't make any move to remove the rest of her clothing. "So you're backing down from a challenge?"

That brought the girl back to life, and she practically ripped her shirt off. I'm pretty sure I saw a few buttons go flying. Sora immediately covered his eyes with his hands to shield them from an almost bare-chested Kairi. The rest of us didn't look too fazed. I paid special attention to Roxas' reaction, but he seemed to be too busy staring at nothing in particular to notice that there was a half naked girl standing in the middle of the room. That made me feel more at ease, and I was just thanking God that it hadn't been Naminé that Riku had dared. Maybe he did have a heart after all.

Finally, Kairi was completely devoid of any clothing minus her undergarments. Sora was still hiding behind the protection of his fingers and babbling on incoherently about how the whole thing was all kinds of wrong. He was completely ignored because everyone else was too interested in seeing how the situation would turn out.

Kairi made her way over to the front door and opened it a crack. Riku snickered to himself, and the girl turned around sharply, her eyes filled with horror. "There's a party going on next door!" she screeched and shuddered when a gust of wind blew in from outside. "There are people going in and out of that house! They could see me!"

Riku's once playful smirk turned into something a little more sinister, and his eyes lit up with the kind of mischief you'd see in a little boy who was doing something he knew he shouldn't. "I know."

"I hate you," Kairi stated pointedly, "and you can trust that I'm going to get you back for this when you least expect it."

"I look forward to it, darling." Riku winked patronizingly. The half-naked girl moaned in disgust but turned back towards the door anyway.

She took a step forward, opened the door as wide as it could go and faced the frigid outdoors determinedly. I saw her back rise and fall as she took a deep breath, and then she was gone. Everyone stayed silent in anticipation. For a few seconds it was so quiet we probably could have heard a pin drop from across the street, then the screams and laughter came, and we all traded glances before every single one of us got up and simultaneously ran for the front door.

Kairi was nowhere in sight, but there were tons of people at the house next door standing outside and getting in and out of cars. A bunch of the guys were hooting and hollering, and the laughter could still be heard from all around.

"Hey, tell that girl she can come over here and party with us anytime, if you know what I mean," one of the unidentifiable silhouettes shouted out to us.

No one bothered to say anything back, but it's not like we would have even had a chance because at that moment a loud bang sounded out from behind us, and we all jumped and turned around to see an exasperated Kairi making her way through the back door. She immediately went for her clothes and pulled her jeans back on. Her shirt was completely ruined from the abuse it had received earlier, so she settled on just covering herself up with her jacket.

Sora was the first one to try and approach her. He walked over slowly, like he was expecting her to lash out at him at any moment. "Kairi…"

She beamed up as soon as he spoke her name. "That was awesome!" she shouted out, and I was a bit taken aback. That was not the reaction I was expecting at all. "Seriously, it was so thrilling. I might even want to do it again."

Sora's face was horror stricken as he heard those words fall out of his best friend's mouth. We all made our ways back over to where the girl was already sitting and formed our little circle again. Riku looked over at Kairi as he sat down, and they both smiled at each other.

"Alright," Kairi said excitedly as she rubbed her hands together and looked around at the group eagerly. Her eyes landed on Naminé. The girls had two identical smiles painted on their lips. I just knew they were up to something, and when girls got together and cooked up plans things never turned out well. "Naminé, I dare you…to kiss…Roxas."

I knew it was coming, I could feel it in my gut before the words even left her mouth, but that didn't stop me from feeling like I'd just had the wind knocked out of me. Roxas looked surprised by the request, but no one else did. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who had seen it coming.

Naminé giggled and glanced over at the blond boy coyly, and he just sort of nodded back. I could tell he was nervous, but I couldn't tell exactly how else he was feeling, how he was feeling about the lingering doom ahead of him. Or maybe it wouldn't be so bad for him, maybe he actually wanted to kiss her. That thought bothered me more than I thought it would. I just didn't know why Roxas was so hard to read all the time. Of course, if it had been easy to figure him out it wouldn't have been as much of a challenge and, in turn, not as fun because God knows how much I enjoyed a good challenge.

I broke away from my thoughts as soon as the petite girl started crawling across the floor over to where Roxas was sitting. She was on her hands and knees, moving seductively and staring at him like he was her next meal. The whole thing was so bizarre, and it looked like every move she was making had been carefully calculated, like she was just acting it out as it had all been planned. It was more than a little bit creepy to me.

She stopped right in front of the youngest Strife brother, and everything was so silent that I thought it might be possible for everyone else to hear my heart thumping in my chest because that sound was all that I could focus on. It wasn't the good kind of thumping either. It was the kind of incessant pounding that resonated through your whole body and never stopped nagging at you. The kind that could make you feel like you were about to have a heart attack and die. At that moment, dying didn't seem like such a bad idea because surely after I witnessed the big kiss I'd never be able to get that image out of my brain, and that's not something I'd want to live with. I knew I was just being a drama queen. Roxas tended to bring that out in me. He brought a lot out of me that I didn't even know I could feel.

By the time I looked back at what was going on in front of me, Naminé was practically sitting in Roxas' lap. She was so close to him, her chest pressed up against his. It made me feel only slightly better when I reminded myself that her breasts were practically non-existent. But my amusement didn't last long because she moved even closer, leaving the gap between them even more minuscule. One sharp move forward and their lips would be touching. I felt like the girl was drawing the whole process out just to torture me. Not that she even had any clue how I was feeling.

I still couldn't tell what the boy was thinking, but somehow I led myself to believe that he was enjoying it. That was the moment that I knew I couldn't take it anymore. I had to do something because Roxas and Naminé kissing was the kind of stuff that B-rated horror movies were made of, and I just could not submit myself to that kind of torture. At least not without being in the back of a darkened movie theater with Zexion by my side so we could make fun of it and laugh everything off.

The tiny girl was gradually moving her face closer, inch by inch, and I knew it had to be then or not at all. "Wait!"

I'm pretty sure it was a sign from the heavens above that all of a sudden the room went pitch black and my emotionally driven outburst was drowned out by hasty shouts of surprise. At first, I had no idea what happened. Maybe from all the emotional turmoil that was brewing inside of me I'd finally lost it, or maybe my mind was just playing cruel tricks on me. Whatever it was, it had effectively blocked out what might have been one of the grossest things I'd ever have the pleasure of seeing, and for that I was thankful. Though, there was no proof that a kiss had actually happened, and I knew that mystery would keep me guessing for a while.

"Ok, everyone stay calm!" I heard Sora shout out from somewhere in the darkness. It silently amused me because the whole room had already gone silent, and he was the only one who seemed on the verge of losing it. "This is not serious so don't panic."

"The electricity must have gone out." Demyx's voice sounded out from somewhere to my right.

"Thank you, Captain obvious," Kadaj laughed. He and Riku were more alike than I previously cared to notice.

"You own this billion dollar cabin and the electricity goes out just like that?" Zexion said exactly what was on his mind, and I wouldn't have expected any different.

"We need to get candles," Cloud spoke up. Trust him to be the voice of reason. "I know we have some in the kitchen somewhere."

"There's a flashlight in there too," Sora shouted out, and I heard the shuffling sounds of footsteps.

By that time my eyes had gotten used to the dark, and thanks to the moonlight that filtered in through one of the huge windows, I was able to make out some dark shadows bustling about. It was too bad that the fire had already died down and was just a bunch of ashes or finding things might have been a lot easier.

I was feeling a little too emotionally drained after what I'd almost witnessed to just stick around for the mayhem that was bound to happen. I could already hear the beginnings of chaos as Sora started freaking out about how the flashlight wasn't where it was supposed to be and other voices joined in and began to help with the search. I just wanted to get away for a little while, so I snuck over to the staircase with ease and made my way upstairs without being noticed.

I wasn't sure exactly where I was going to go. I just knew I wanted to be anywhere but downstairs, anywhere but where Naminé was. Anywhere that could take my mind off of the horrible visions I had of bodies pressing up against each other, of lips touching, of Naminé doing everything I wanted to do but couldn't bring myself to fully admit.

I knew it was a lost cause. There was nowhere in the world I could go that would take my mind off of Roxas. Nothing I could do that would stop the inevitable fate that I was going to have to face sooner or later. That no matter how much I tried to make myself believe otherwise, nothing would change the fact that I felt something for Roxas. Fighting against my feelings was getting a little old. It's hard to wage a war against yourself, not to mention exhausting, and I was starting to miss just going with the flow of things and not worrying about the future. When exactly was it that I had become so annoying?

It's just that not once in my life had I ever felt as strongly about something like the way I did about Roxas. Just the sight of him had my stomach doing back flips. He made me feel so vulnerable, and I hadn't felt that way since I was a child. But all of a sudden, it was like I had no control over anything I thought or felt anymore. I'd only spoken to him a few times, but I knew from the first time I saw him that there was something there. Little did I know that something would change my life so drastically.

"Do you make it a habit of sneaking around people's houses?" The voice sent tingles down my spine, but I no longer felt nervous or out of place. It was amazing what I could accomplish by just coming to terms with the way I felt even if it was just the beginning stages.

"I guess you caught me in the act again," I teased. And just like that, I felt all the inner turmoil melting away. Admitting to myself that I actually liked Roxas made everything seem easier. "You gonna punish me now? Like maybe handcuff and whip me or something equally as thrilling."

He was still standing a few steps away and in the shadows of the darkness, so it was difficult to see his reaction, but from the sound of his voice I could tell that he was at least trying not to smile. "I get the feeling you'd like that. I mean, you are kind of a freak."

"Ah, yes, that may be true, but you're the one who followed me up here, so what do you think that says about you?"

"I…just…what do you…" I had clearly caught him off guard. "I didn't…follow you up…here."

"Oh, so it's just a coincidence that as soon as I get up here you trail right behind?"

"Yes! It's dark down there if you didn't notice!" His defensiveness was only serving to make it even more obvious that he was lying.

"Except it's easy enough to see someone…" I trailed off for a second and leaned forward into the darkness where he was standing. "…if you're watching them."

Silence.

"Ok, I followed you," Roxas replied eventually, like it was the most obvious thing anyone could ever say. I felt proud of myself for bringing the truth out of him, and my spirits were completely lifted by the fact that he actually wanted to be around me, alone even.

I leaned back against the window located at the far end of the hall that I had been looking out of a few seconds earlier. "Is that so?"

"That's what I just said, isn't it? Sora's losing his shit downstairs. Apparently, the candles are harder to find than he anticipated."

"That sounds like him." I laughed at the image of the brunette star losing it over the lack of light in the cabin. "But somehow, I don't think that's the sole reason you followed me."

"Oh really?" Roxas stepped forward, and the moonlight that was shining in through the window washed over him, revealing him to me completely. For a second there I almost lost my nerve. He crossed his arms firmly over his chest and tilted his head to the side as if to challenge me. "Then what do you think the reason was?"

I smirked and pressed my back harder against the window. "I'm flattered that my opinion on the situation means so much to you, Roxy." I used the nickname purposefully, and it elicited the exact reaction from him that I was looking for. He flinched but didn't back down. "I think you followed me up here because, despite whether you want to admit it or not, I left an impression on you, and you like being around me."

He leaned his side up against the wall. "So, let me get this straight. We've only talked a few times and you already think you know everything about me?"

I laughed, and Roxas looked at me strangely. It wasn't that what he said was necessarily funny, it was just the fact that he was so far off base. "No." I shifted slightly. "No, I can honestly say that I have absolutely _no idea_ what's going on in your head."

"Oh…" He looked down towards the floor, and the disappointment on his face made me feel like I just kicked a puppy.

"But…like…I mean, I'd like to." I attempted to make things better.

Roxas looked up slowly. "You'd like to what?"

I felt like the fate of any future relationship we might have, romantic or otherwise, was resting in my hands, that Roxas' happiness was hanging on the words I was about to say. "To know everything about you."

Stillness rushed over us again, and I almost thought that I'd said the wrong thing and ruined everything. It didn't last very long, though, because a few seconds later Roxas glanced out the window and spoke up. "You know, we bought this cabin five years ago after Sora's first big movie." I stayed completely silent, not wanting anything to stop him from talking. I wanted to listen to his voice for the rest of my life. "I was only fourteen at the time, and I loved it here. I'd never experienced anything like this place. Everything was a new experience back then. We moved from our old house and into the new one. Everything was brand new, cars, clothes, fame, you name it."

He paused for a second, and I almost thought he was done speaking. I prayed that he would keep going. Everything he was saying was the most he'd ever said to me. It was the first time I ever got a look into his life and mind past what I could see on the outside. It was the first and only time so far that he'd ever let me in, and I didn't want it to end that quickly. My prayers were answered when I heard him sigh.

"I thought everything was amazing back then. I mean, what more could I possibly have asked for? I had everything I wanted and then some." He scoffed at his own words "I was stupid."

I had absolutely no idea what to say to that, which seemed to have become semi-normal behavior for me every time I was around the blond. I just stood there watching him. The moonlight radiating off of his pale face and lighting up his eyes in a way I'd never seen before was enough to take my breath away, and I nearly choked on the air I was breathing in when he turned and looked right at me.

There was so much I could have said right then, love confessions, life stories, random jokes off the top of my head. I had tons and tons of things on my mind, millions of questions to ask, but none of those things would come out of mouth. Instead I just ended up saying something completely unintentional. "Your eyes are, like, _really_ amazing."

It took me a few seconds to realize what I'd just said, but instead of getting all flustered and going back on my words, I just stood there and stared right at the boy in front of me. As usual, I couldn't tell what he was thinking, but the way he was gazing at me was something I'd never seen from him before.

I was starting to get the feeling that if something didn't happen, if neither one of us said anything, I wasn't going to be able to control myself any longer. All I could see in my mind were flashes of what I wanted to do. Bodies flush up against one another, tongues intertwined, my hands trailing over soft porcelain skin, the pants and moans escaping that perfect mouth as I…

"Roxas are you up there?" I couldn't quite tell if the sound of Naminé's voice at that exact moment was a blessing or a curse.

Roxas turned around quickly, breaking our eye contact and effectively nullifying all of my urges. "Uh…yea. You don't have to come up here. I'll be down in a minute!"

"…ok." She didn't sound too assured, but when I didn't hear her voice again I assumed she walked away.

"Well, we better get back down there before they send up a search party," I joked, trying to ignore all the crazy thoughts rolling around in my head and bring some lightheartedness back into the atmosphere.

Roxas chuckled, and I felt my heart swell. "Yea…I wouldn't put it past my brother to do something like that."

He started to head for the stairs while I trailed behind. There was still that one thing in the back of my mind that kept nagging at me, so I stopped suddenly. "Did Naminé kiss you?" My voice sounded so unsure, and I almost regretted asking. Maybe I didn't want to know? But I knew finding out, either way, would at least stop that question from distressing me. If the answer was something I didn't want to hear I'd try to deal with it somehow. "You know…after the lights went out?"

He was barely visible in the dark hallway, but I could still tell that he stopped when I didn't hear his feet dragging along the carpet any longer. "…no." He didn't even bother to turn around. "No, uh, we didn't kiss."

I felt like the biggest weight had been lifted off of my shoulders, like I could just float up into the sky and dance with the stars. I kept my cool, though. I already probably looked strange enough in Roxas' eyes for being so curious about the outcome of the dare.

"Good." I didn't realize that I said that out loud until I got a good look at the blond's face as I moved closer, closing the gap between us. His brow furrowed in what seemed like curiosity. There was no use in taking the word back because I didn't even know how to excuse it.

"You're weird," He laughed out before moving again, and I couldn't help but join in.

Our laughter mingled together as we started towards the stairs and nothing ever felt more right. Then Roxas was the one who stopped dead in his tracks, and I almost slammed into him because my mind was on a completely different planet. One of happiness and love, where the sun shone bright every single day and smiles were never hard to come by. I was somehow able to catch myself as I plummeted back into the reality of the darkened hallway before I made even more of an idiot of myself.

"Thanks," Roxas said simply as he turned back around to face me.

"For what?" I blinked.

He stood there for a minute before smiling the biggest smile I'd ever seen grace his lips, and I almost died. "For being normal."

And with that, he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and walked away down the stairs, leaving me behind to stand there and take in his words.

* * *

That night, the many thoughts that were swirling around in my head weren't the only things keeping me awake. You see, one thing I'd forgotten about when the electricity went out was the fact that there would be absolutely no heat in the cabin. I was convinced that no matter how cold it was outside, it was even colder inside. The blanket I had wrapped around me as tightly as I could manage wasn't doing very much to stop the frigid air from assaulting my body. I was shivering, my teeth were chattering, and I swore I was going to turn into an ice cube at any moment. They would have to carry me downstairs in the morning and defrost me in front of the fire.

Somehow, through everything, my roommate was in his bed sound asleep. Of course, he had more fat on his body than I did. The lucky bastard. I had to be born unnaturally skinny and without the ability to gain any weight no matter how much I ate. It was around the time I started thinking of my friend that I decided I just could not take it anymore.

I rolled out of bed with the blanket still around me and hopped over like a rabbit to the other side of Zexion's bed. I shook him, causing him to groan and twist around in his sheets. "Are you awake?" I asked. Why is it that people always ask someone who is clearly asleep if they are awake when they wake them up?

"I am now," he answered groggily. "What the hell do you want?"

"I want to sleep with you." I immediately realized how that statement could have been taken, but Zexion was still too drowsy to take any notice.

"No."

"Please, I'm dying. It's so cold in here, and I could use the body heat and extra blankets."

"No."

"Zexion, Pleaaaaaase…" I tried to be as annoying as possible, and it worked.

My friend sighed in annoyance before turning back over onto his side, and I knew that was his form of approval. I unwrapped the sheet from my body and threw it over the top of the bed. I almost froze on the spot with my lack of cover up, so I jumped into the bed quickly, pulled the covers over me and snuggled up against Zexion's back.

It felt so good to finally feel warm for once, and I could already sense myself drifting off into some much needed sleep. That is, until I heard the jiggling of a door handle and the whispers that followed. I knew exactly what it was, and so did Zexion because I heard him groan in contempt. The door eventually slammed open, then I heard the scattering of footsteps walking towards the bed.

"What do you two want," I asked, without even removing my head from its place under my pillow.

"It's cold," Demyx whispered, and I felt the bed dip behind me.

"Can we sleep in your bed," Yuffie asked.

"No!" Zexion and I replied at the same time. I heard Demyx whine in protest.

"C'mon guys," the girl pleaded. "The more bodies there are, the warmer it will be!"

"I'm perfectly content with the way it is right now," I said, knowing that it would cause the two intruders to retort back. I don't know why I egged them on when all I wanted to do was sleep. It was just in my nature to be as annoying as possible sometimes.

"If you don't let us into this bed I swear to God you'll wish you'd never been born," Yuffie threatened, and I could hear her voice wavering as she shivered.

Zexion sighed. "Fine, you can get in." The two giggled, and I heard them give each other a high five before the blankets were lifted off of us. And for the hundredth time that night I was back to freezing my ass off. "But you will not make a peep! You will get in, lay down and go straight to sleep, or there _will_ be hell to pay," my best friend warned.

Not another word was spoken as they made their way under the sheets and settled down. I could tell that Yuffie was the one who got in first because when I felt the body pressed up against mine, it was quite small. Luckily, everything the Strife's owned was gigantic otherwise we'd all literally be sleeping on top of each other instead of just figuratively.

Moments of silence passed by. Despite Yuffie shifting around slightly to get comfortable, I could feel myself once again being pulled farther and farther into my slumber. I thought I was finally going to be able to drift off into my dreams that were hopefully of Roxas and forget about the whole emotionally draining day. I should have known that with Yuffie and Demyx around things would never be that simple.

"Demyx!" The girl shouted out suddenly, breaking the silence and causing me to start. "Get your knee out of my ass!"

It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"What's going on in here?"

I opened my eyes slowly, trying to take in my surroundings. The sun was shining into the room and blinding me, so I closed them again right away. It wasn't till a few seconds later when the sleep started to melt away that I felt a pressure on top of me. I tried to kick whatever it was off, but it just wouldn't budge. There was no point in going back to sleep anymore, so I opened my eyes again and braved the bright light. I looked down to see Yuffie, lying horizontally across my friends and me. Not only was she on top of me but Demyx had his arm draped over my chest, and his hand was grabbing onto the shirt Zexion was wearing.

Then, all at once, I noticed the laughter coming from the door, and I peered over to see Sora, Kairi, and Roxas standing in the doorway. I immediately shot up, startling both my co-worker and Yuffie in the process. My head was spinning from the sudden movement, so I brought my hand up to my face and felt a string of drool pouring out of the corner of my mouth. I wiped it away quickly, hoping no one else noticed.

"This is awkward." I heard Roxas say, and I brought my head back up to see him looking directly at me.

"Yea, what a strange thing to walk in on," Kairi commented as she stepped further into the room.

My friends were going through the same waking process that I already had seconds earlier, so I decided to be the one to speak up. "It was cold last night," I informed, like that would do everything to explain our weird sleeping situation.

"Well, come downstairs," Sora replied gleefully as he rocked back and forth on his heels. "Cloud's making breakfast."

That's when I noticed the scent of breakfast foods floating through the house. As if on cue, my stomach started growling and begging for food. "Cloud's…cooking breakfast?" The image I was getting of the tall, spiky-haired, blond wearing an apron and cooking breakfast like a little domestic homemaker struck me as more than funny.

"Yea, I know, it doesn't seem to fit him, but he makes reallllly good food." Everything to Sora was really good. I guess that comes along with always walking on the sunny side of the street.

"When you finally get your lazy asses out of bed you can come join the living," Roxas jeered. I glared at him while his two partners in crime giggled. "We've got things to do."

And before my brain could process it, they were gone, leaving my friends and me to try and bring ourselves to life. I almost died when I looked over at the clock and saw that it was seven AM. I never got up that early. And besides that, the night before I hadn't fallen asleep until sometime in the very early hours of the morning, then I had to sleep in positions I never thought possible, so it was no wonder I was feeling like I'd just been beaten over the head with a baseball bat when I finally planted my feet on the floor.

By the time we all got ourselves ready and made it downstairs, everyone else was done eating, and I felt like an idiot for sleeping so late. That didn't stop me from consuming the breakfast that Cloud had prepared and going back for seconds, though. Sora was right; his brother did make some pretty good food. I learned that he was always right about those kinds of things, especially when it came to food.

Our plans for the day were to go skiing and snowboarding. According to Kadaj, The Villages was the best place to ski in all of Gagazet. Not that I would know any different. It was yet another thing that I was experiencing for the first time. It was strange how being around Roxas and company, I realized that I'd never actually experienced life as much as I thought. There were still a million other things the world had to offer that I didn't know about. Being around Roxas made me want to discover everything about life that I possibly could, and it was weird to feel that way, to feel like I wasn't content just living out my days and letting things pass me by.

The first place we stopped at was a small shop where we could rent all the equipment we'd need. I decided to try out snowboarding because, for some reason, it seemed so much cooler to me. Not to mention, I'd been on a skateboard a couple times before in my life, so I figured it couldn't be that much different. Roxas chose a snowboard, too. It made me feel happy that we had at least one thing in common. Sort of.

The ski lift wasn't very far from the shop, so we didn't have to trudge that long through the snow. When we got there I didn't even get a chance to figure out who I was going to sit with or even begin to cook up a plan on how to weasel my way into sitting next to Roxas because before I knew it, I was being dragged forward by my wrist and onto one of the slowly moving seats. I landed on it awkwardly, but when I finally settled myself I realized that I was right where I wanted to be, next to the youngest Strife sibling. It took me a few seconds to grasp that he was the one who pulled me over. He was the one who decided that we should sit together. We were definitely making progress.

"I didn't know you were so eager to be close to me," I teased him playfully as we moved along.

"Yea, well, don't get too excited." He bowed his head down to try and hide the smile that was growing on his lips. "Sitting with you is just better than sitting with Naminé."

Those words were like music to my ears. "Oh?" I prompted him to continue on about his thoughts on the girl. What I was really looking for was a confirmation that he didn't like her, at least in a romantic way.

"It's not that I hate her or anything." He scrunched his nose up in a cute little way that reminded me entirely of Sora. "She's just overbearing. Like, beyond overbearing. I think she likes me or something."

"Obviously," I said, mostly to myself. Roxas looked at me strangely, and I realized he probably didn't know just how closely I'd been watching him the past few weeks. "I mean…obviously you'd know because, well…it's you she likes…" I laughed awkwardly and ran a hand through my hair, almost sending the goggles I had resting on the top of my head tumbling to the ground below.

After a few seconds of panicked actions on my part as I tried to tried to grab the goggles and somehow choked myself in the process when they dropped down around my neck, Roxas stopped staring at me and cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Like I was saying, I think she likes me, and I just don't feel that way about her. So it's weird, you know?"

I turned around to get a glimpse of said blond girl, sitting a couple seats behind us. She was grumbling about something to Kairi, who was sitting beside her. It looked as if the auburn haired girl was contemplating whether or not to push her friend right off the lift. Naminé was throwing her hands around wildly, and after one last, annoyed gesture, she turned forward and locked eyes with me. I turned back around in a flash. I didn't think she had any idea about my feelings for Roxas, but I felt like if I stared at her any longer I'd unintentionally give something away. Thanks to Riku I'd become paranoid.

"So, have you ever done this before?"

I was so busy worrying myself about Naminé that the question didn't even register. "What?"

"Have you done this before?" Roxas asked a littler slower and condescendingly in the way that I loved.

"Have I done what before?" I knew it was a dumb question as soon as I asked it.

"Um…" He looked at me skeptically, then pointed towards our feet that were hanging over the edge. "Snowboarding."

"Oh…oh, not really." I didn't want to seem as lame as I actually was by outright admitting that I'd never done it before.

"You either have or you haven't," Roxas stated matter-of-factly.

"Well, have _you _done it before?" I asked to take the attention away from me.

"Of course! You think I've been coming up here for five years just to sit on my ass and drink hot chocolate?"

"Uh…no, I don't think that…"

"So, have you ever snowboarded before or not?" He was really persistent when you got him talking.

"I've skateboarded before…" I suggested. I just couldn't lie to Roxas.

He scoffed and waved me off. "That doesn't mean shit."

"It can't be that much different. I mean, except for one you do on pavement," I held up a hand for emphasis and then raised my other one before speaking again, "and the other is done on snow."

"Uh, yea. It's not that simple."

"Whatever, I bet I could master this snowboarding thing in, like, a second flat. I have a natural talent at succeeding in anything I try," I boasted.

"Oh, really?" A sort of evil smile spread across Roxas' face, and the glint in his eyes told me he was up to something. "Let's see you try it then."

I could see the top of the hill coming, so I readied myself to hop off. "Ok, you're gonna be eating your wor-"

I didn't even get to finish my sentence before I felt a hand on my back, and I was suddenly pushed from the lift. I managed to land on my feet somehow, and I was even able to start gliding down the hill. It felt amazing, the wind whipping against my face, the scenery passing by in a blur. The adrenaline pumping through my body was like nothing I ever felt before. I was on top of the world. It only lasted for about two seconds, though, before everything came crashing down and I found myself face first with the ground, eating snow.

Then came the laughter and the jeers, and when I finally removed my face from the ground I could see my friends gathered all around, staring at me. Roxas was the only one I could focus on. "Yea, you're a real natural alright. Looks like all those hours of skateboarding really paid off."

"What was _that_?" Riku asked through bouts of annoying laughter.

"Would you like to feel that one, Roxas?" I questioned while I playfully glared at the blond.

"I pushed him," he replied, trying to hide his amusement. "He tried to tell me that snowboarding was just like skateboarding and that it would be easy."

Zexion chuckled out loud, and since he was the only one making any noise, of course, all attention was on him in an instant. I knew what was coming. I groaned as I lay back down on the snow and buried my face in my arms. "He told you he knew how to skateboard?"

"I said I'd _been on_ a skateboard before." My voice was muffled but loud enough to be heard.

"Barely." I swear Zexion was laughing more on that one day than he had during the entire time I'd known him. "Your ass was on the pavement the majority of the time."

I raised my head up sharply to see my best friend and Demyx giggling together like two little school girls, and I felt like I was in the twilight zone. I wanted to say something to embarrass my roommate the way he'd done to me. Maybe something about him and my co-worker or maybe bringing up the fact that Zexion was actually on skis. He put up quite a fight at the shop, insisting that he just wasn't cut out for things like skiing, but Sora got to him, and when you take on Sora, you always lose. As it turns out, I didn't get the chance to say anything at all.

"We're supposed to meet the instructor up here, like right now, so we better get going," the brunette star informed everyone.

"We don't need an instructor," Riku declared as he turned around and slid away on his board.

"But we're not the only ones here," Cloud said to the boy's retreating back. The silver-haired male just shrugged him off. "Asswipe!"

"I heard that," Riku shouted over his shoulder.

"I know!" Cloud looked towards Kadaj, and they laughed before they started trailing after the other Hikari brother. "You were supposed to!"

Sora was the next to leave, followed by my best friend and Demyx, who were still not letting my humiliation go. Yuffie started to take off then stopped and turn around. "Are you coming, Red?" I saw Roxas raise his eyebrows at the nickname.

"Yea I'll be there in a second." I gave the girl a look that I hoped was telling her to leave Roxas and me alone without actually clueing her in that something more was going on under the surface. I got lucky. She must have been too excited to be out there snowboarding to care about over-analyzing the situation because she shot me a bright smile and sprinted after the rest of the group.

The last two people left were Naminé and Kairi, and it didn't seem like the former wanted to leave at all. As soon as the auburn haired girl started to move away, Naminé stayed firmly in place, just gazing at Roxas like she had her mind set on staying with him. I wanted to tell her to get lost, but I could never bring myself to be that rude.

It wasn't till Kairi was a few feet away that she realized she had been talking to herself for the past few seconds, and she turned around and saw that her friend hadn't even moved. She made her way back towards us, gliding along on her skis and grabbed onto Naminé's arm. "Let's go, Nami!" She tugged the girl forward. Reluctantly, the blonde allowed herself to be dragged away, but not without looking back over her shoulder and giving a small wave to Roxas.

He nodded curtly and a bit uncomfortably, if I do say so, before turning back around to face me and reaching out his hand for me to grab onto. It was only then that I realized that I was still sitting on the ground like some kind of loser. I reached up and grabbed his hand without thinking about the implications of the action.

As soon as I was back up on my feet and was able to comprehend that we were practically holding hands, I almost lost all ability to function. It wasn't until Roxas averted his gaze and wriggled his hand somewhat that I finally loosened my grip.

I shook my head slightly to clear away the fog in my mind. "I guess we better catch up with the rest of the group." I pointed to everyone else, who were a short distance away on the other side of the slope, and started to move.

"Or we could just stay here." I turned back around suddenly, but Roxas was pretending to fix his snowboard. I could tell he was purposely avoiding eye contact with me, and I was intrigued. "I mean, I think I'm pretty good at snowboarding...so I could...uh…" He took that moment to look back up at me, and I didn't miss the nervousness in his eyes. It was obvious that he didn't talk to people one on one like that very often. "I could teach you."

It was the best suggestion that I had heard all day, and there was no way I was going to turn it down. Even if I had wanted to, the anticipation written across his face wouldn't have allowed it. It was almost like he feared me rejecting him. Like I was going to say: '_Thanks, but no, I'd rather pass up an opportunity to be alone with you and go hang out with some lame ski instructor instead._' Yea, that was going to happen. I wished Roxas knew that he had nothing to worry about. I thought it was pretty obvious by then that I wanted to be around him every second I could.

"Yea, sure." Was the only thing I said even though I felt like reassuring him that I would never turn him down for anything. He could tell me to go jump off a bridge and I probably would. Ok, maybe I wouldn't go that far, but I would do most anything else. I was that whipped. Pathetic, right? I'd known the boy for less than a month, and I was already willing to be his little bitch.

"Ok, then." The nervousness was gone from his face and was replaced with a smirk. "Let's get started, Red."

The use of the nickname made my heart rate speed up. Had it been anyone else besides Yuffie, that is, I would have had a bone to pick. But it elated me that Roxas cared enough to pick up on that stupid name the girl called me.

"Ok, what do I do first," I asked excitedly, and it was weird to hear myself exert that much enthusiasm over something so simple.

"Not that," he said, referring to my hunched over pose. "You look like some old man. Stand up straight."

"Well, then." I pretended to be offended, but Roxas just ignored me in favor of filling me up with all his snowboarding knowledge.

"First of all, you just want to get the hang of gliding. So, basically, you're going to want to transfer your weight to your front foot and start down this slope." I'll admit I was only halfway paying attention to what he was saying. I was too busy thinking about how cute he looked with that serious look on his face as he tried to teach me everything. "Then, once you're moving try to maintain your balance. The key is to just relax and focus your attention straight ahead. This slope isn't too steep, so just let yourself stop naturally once you get to the bottom. You got that?"

"Uh…yea."

He eyed me warily after I gave my half-assed response. "Ok, then let's see you try."

I took a deep breath and tried to remember what he'd just told me. Something about shifting my weight forward. I started to move down the slope slowly, and I was able to keep my balance for more than a couple seconds. I felt accomplished and even more excited when I heard Roxas shout out that I was doing a good job.

That's when my carelessness kicked in. I turned back around without even thinking about it. I just wanted to see the look on his face as he watched me accomplish something that he taught, and just like that I was losing my balance and tumbling the rest of the way down.

"No, you idiot!" I heard the blond yell from the top of the slope.

I landed with a plop at the bottom. The snow flew up all around me, and I couldn't stop myself from laughing. Roxas glided down the slope with ease and grace that would have left me awestruck if I had been able to catch my breath.

"What are you laughing at?" I heard the laughs threatening to spill out of his mouth. "You just made an ass of yourself in front of God and everyone."

"I know," I choked out, finally able to calm my laughter a little.

"So are you going to just sit there all day, or are you going to get up and try again?" The mirth in Roxas' voice was no longer hidden.

"I think I'm pretty hopeless," I said as I picked myself up and shook the pieces of snow off of my clothes and hair.

"I wouldn't say that." We looked at each other, and I felt like with Roxas at my side I could accomplish anything I set my mind to. "You just need a little practice."

"Riiight, a little," I scoffed, and Roxas nudged my side with his elbow.

We began to head back up the slope to try again but were stopped by a voice. "Roxas!" And I just knew that the almost perfect day was going to be ruined. Why did fate have to be so unkind? We turned around to see none other than Tidus running over to us. He had a snowboard under his arm and some hideously yellow jacket on. "I need to talk to you!"

"That's going to be pretty hard for you to accomplish considering I never want to see you ever again." Roxas turned back around and started to walk away. "Leave me alone." I knew the other boy wasn't going to let things go that easily, and I could already see the storm brewing ahead.

"Look, I'm trying to make things better here. The least you could do is hear me out," he pleaded. From the look on his face and the desperation in his voice, I felt like he was being sincere.

"The least I could do?" Roxas laughed wryly and just barely turned his head back around. "The least I could do is walk away and not beat the shit out of you."

"You're being stupid," Tidus said a little more forcefully than he had before. He was trying to so hard to get through to the other boy, but he just wouldn't let him in. I knew Roxas could be stubborn and distant, but his reaction just seemed a little much. What was it that Tidus had done that was so bad?

"I'm being stupid?" The youngest Strife sibling whirled back around and stared daggers at the other blond. "You're the one who started everything, and now you don't know how to take a hint. I hate you, ok? I will never forgive you, and I would be extremely happy if I never saw your face again! So why don't _you_ quit being stupid and get the hell out of my sight!"

It seemed like Tidus was going to back down. He lowered his head, but it couldn't hide the tiny expression of hurt that was marring his features. Just as I thought he was going to back off and leave, he raised his head, and I saw the flash of rage in his eyes. "It's not my fault you've been such a little bitch ever since Sora got famous," he taunted. "Are you jealous of your bother or something?"

"Shut the hell up, Tidus!" Roxas snapped.

Things were definitely about to reach the boiling point, so I attempted to bring peace to the situation by tugging on Roxas' arm and trying to drag him away. "C'mon, let's just go," I begged, but he just yanked his arm out of my grip and continued to stare down the other boy. There was nothing I could do except watch the inevitable unfold before my eyes.

"Maybe you should pull that stick out of your ass before the few people you have left that you can call friends see what an asshole you really are and turn their backs on you." Tidus was starting to get really vicious. The only thing Roxas showed outwardly was anger and rage, but I got the feeling that somewhere underneath the other boy's words were really hurting him. Even if they weren't, they were hurting me. I wanted to do something or, at the very least, say something, but I knew anything I did would just make the situation worse.

"You mean like _you_ did?" The boy at my side questioned, his voice much softer than before.

"I did what I had to do," Tidus said firmly. "And if it cost us our friendship, then so be it." Roxas bent down and calmly started to remove his feet from the board. "Now I realize that I'm much better off not being around you because you're nothing but a loser. And if I could do everything all over again...I would."

That was it. Everything was beyond the point of being fixed, and before I knew it Roxas was lunging forward and closing the space between him and the offender. He slammed himself into Tidus, and the two of them fell to the ground in fits of shouting and rage. Fists were flying, snow was flying, and it caught the attention of everyone around.

Roxas landed a punch on the side of Tidus's face before receiving a blow to the stomach that caused him to double over and try to catch his breath. That allowed the other boy to gain dominance, and he flipped Roxas over and towered over him. He started go crazy on the shorter blond, just beating the crap out of him like he was some sort of punching bag.

I couldn't just stand around and do nothing anymore, so I walked cautiously over to the brawl. I could see the rest of my friends finally realizing what was going on and making their ways over towards where I was. The moment I arrived next to the two, Roxas suddenly bucked his hips forward and sent Tidus flying backwards onto the snow. It was his turn to go nuts, and he started throwing wild punches, attacking any part of the boy that he could find in his blind rage.

The yells of my friends were getting louder as they drew nearer, and I was still just standing there like and idiot, so I approached the fight. I was going to attempt to pull the boys off of each other, but when I got close and bent down I saw Roxas rear his arm back. Everything happened in slow motion. All I remember is suddenly being struck in my left eye by his elbow and everything going blurry. I stumbled backwards a few steps, trying to keep my balance, but eventually I could no longer keep myself on my feet, and for the third time that day I was one with the snow covered ground.

"Shit!" I yelled at the searing pain that was shooting through my face. I immediately brought my hand up to cover my eye. Breaths were hard to come by, and I was struggling to keep myself calm. I probably would have been more upset and devastated at the fact that I was most likely going to have a black eye when all was said and done if I hadn't been so distracted by the way things were playing out at that moment.

Cloud got a hold of his brother and pulled him off of the other boy. He struggled and fought hard to get away so he could continue his pummeling session, but the older sibling was much stronger. His grip on Roxas' arms was firm.

Tidus got up at once, and it looked like he was about to go after Roxas even though he was being restrained until Yuffie grabbed him and held onto him with her death grip. He didn't struggle much, and I figured it was because he didn't want to hurt the girl who had a hold of him. Little did he know that Yuffie had more strength in one finger than he did in his entire body. He could thrash around violently and attempt to escape from her grasp if he wanted to, but he'd never be successful.

Zexion came over to my side and helped me up by the hand that wasn't desperately pushing into my eye, trying to stop the pain. He didn't even have to speak to ask if I was ok. He just communicated it with a look ,and I shrugged it off before returning my attention back to the happenings in front of us.

"Let me go," Roxas cried out as he tried to wriggle himself away from Cloud. He looked so frantic to get away and beat Tidus up some more.

"Roxas, stop it," Sora said before turning to look at the other blond boy who had calmed down considerably. "Let go of him," He ordered Yuffie, and she hesitantly released him. "Get out of here, Tidus."

"Anything for you, your highness." He smirked and bowed before picking up his snowboard and limping away.

Everything was quiet for a few moments as we all just stood around. Sora was massaging his temple, and Cloud still hadn't let go of his younger brother. "You can't do things like this, Roxas." The brunette sighed.

"What are you talking about?" Roxas was finally able to free himself when Cloud loosened his grip. "It wasn't just me! Tidus came over here and…and he started running his mouth…" He threw his arms out in desperation.

"But this is the life you live, Roxas," Cloud informed sternly. "You can't just go around doing whatever you want. People are always watching us."

"If this gets out, what do you think will happen? What if the press gets a hold of something like this?" I noticed Sora oddly glance over his shoulder at Tidus' retreating figure after he finished speaking. There was still something about the whole Tidus situation that was being left out.

Roxas looked at his brothers incredulously and started to back away slowly. "People are always watching us. What if the press gets a hold of this…" He repeated his sibling's words like a zombie. "I don't care what people think! I'm tired of always having to pretend. But that's all you guys care about. I mean, I should just let Tidus treat me like shit as long as I don't ruin our family's image, right? How dare I ever speak my mind or try to act normal." He laughed wryly and shook his head.

"That's not what we said, Roxas." Sora walked forward, but it only caused Roxas to take a few steps back. "We're just saying that we all have to watch what we do. That's the cost of being in the public eye. We all knew what we were getting into before it happened."

"You mean what _you_ were getting us into." Roxas' voice was low and dripping with more malice than I'd ever heard before. His words seemed to come as a shock to Sora because he flinched and took a few steps back. "I never asked for any of this."

"Maybe you didn't," Cloud intervened when Sora looked too upset to continue. "But we're a family, and we're supposed to stick together. What's gotten into you lately?"

"I wouldn't expect you to understand." The shorter blond took another step backwards and looked around at the rest of us. He wiped the trail of blood that was spilling from a cut on his bottom lip before saying anything else. "Sorry for ruining everything."

And with that, he turned around forcefully and marched up the slope as fast as he could. No one bothered to stop him, and I couldn't even bring myself to go after him. My eye was still stinging and my mind was reeling from everything that just happened. Sora walked away silently, and Kairi ran after to comfort him. Cloud shook his head and apologized to us for everything before turning on his heels and following his brother.

Eventually, the only ones left standing behind were my friends and I. I don't think any of us knew what to make of what we'd just seen, so we all just kept our mouths shut. That was a rare occurrence considering Yuffie and Demyx hardly ever stopped talking long enough to take a breath.

It was sad how everything had been going so well only to come crashing down. I'd certainly learned a bit more about Roxas that day, but after all the problems, I wasn't so sure if that was such a good thing anymore. Seeing him so upset like that and witnessing the rift happening between him and his family was heartbreaking. It was strange. To the outside world the Strife family was a picture of perfection, and even I had been duped into believing that they were flawless and their lives were nothing but amazing. But underneath the surface were secrets kept hidden from view. They were just as dysfunctional as the rest of us, only they hid it better.

"Doesn't look too good," Zexion said, referring to my injured eye, and somehow the words fit everything perfectly.

* * *

**I don't have much to say, just thanks for reading!**

**:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

It took me a few seconds to work up the courage to ring the doorbell, but once I did I felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders.

For a while, the only thing I could hear coming from inside was the barking of a dog. I took the lull in action as a chance to take in my surroundings. The place where Roxas and Sora lived was nothing less than beautiful. Instead of being surrounded by the city or located by the beach like their parents' house, their condo was a little farther out in the suburbs.

When I first pulled into Timber Greens the only thing I could notice was all of the trees and nature surrounding the place. I even spotted a deer as I weaved my way through the many winding roads that helped to make up the little community. It wasn't until I stepped out of the car finally that I was really able to take it all in. The air seemed cleaner out there, the sky bluer, and the wind rustling through the trees was like music to my ears. It was no wonder Sora decided to live there. Hell, I'd have lived there too if I could've afforded it.

After a few minutes of no one answering the door, I got the feeling that I might have been at the wrong place. I mean, Roxas had given me the address hastily over the phone while I was coming down from a smoothie high, and it was certainly possible I could have heard wrong, or maybe I got lost in the maze they called streets.

Just as I was about to back away and leave, I heard the door unlock and it opened sharply. Before I had the chance to greet the boy properly he grabbed me by the arm and pulled me inside. I didn't mind all that much. I actually kind of liked it when he was rough.

"One of these days you're going to dislocate my arm or something," I said as I dramatically grabbed onto my shoulder.

Roxas just rolled his eyes and stared at me like he was waiting for me to say something else, but I ignored him and instead focused my attention on the small pepper-colored schnauzer that was jumping around my feet and wagging its little tail back and forth. I dropped the duffle bag that was hanging over my shoulder to the floor and picked the animal up. "Who is this little guy?" The dog licked my face. "He's cute!"

The blond crossed his arms over his chest. "His name is Vincent. He belongs to Sora and he's not cute, he's a nightmare."

"Well, I think he's adorable." I held the dog up to my face again and it licked my nose. I'd always been an animal lover despite never having a pet in all of my life. It's not like I didn't want one, but it was never an option when I was little, and by the time I moved in with Zexion I seemed to have too many other problems and responsibilities to worry about.

"You would," Roxas said. "You don't have to take care of him constantly, and you both have a lot in common."

"And what is that?" I asked as I finally set the dog back on the ground. It ran around in circles, and its high pitched bark rang out all around the house.

The blond in front of me just jutted his hand out towards Vincent as if that would explain it all. When I didn't understand right away, he sighed. "You're both annoying, neither one of you knows when to shut up, and you are both clingy and unaware of personal space." A smirk crossed Roxas' face. "The only thing I can say for you is that at least you don't need a leash and collar to go to the bathroom."

"If I'm so annoying, then why did you invite me to stay over?"

I had been in the middle of my fourth smoothie when I got the call from Roxas. Zexion and Rikku, one of the new employees at the smoothie king, had been laughing at the freak out I'd had when the girl wouldn't hand over my last drink. Needless to say, it was slow for both the bakery and the smoothie shop, and up until the point when my cell phone rang, it had been a pretty boring day.

When I first answered the phone I was shocked, to say the least, when I realized that it was Roxas, and then I was even more stunned by the fact that he took it upon himself to get my number from Sora and invite me over to his house to stay for a couple days. It was a sign that our relationship, friendly or otherwise, was blossoming, and there was no turning back any longer. It seemed like I was starting to get what I finally wanted all along. Besides being elated, I couldn't deny that I was a bit scared too.

"I already told you," Roxas said as he leaned against the back of the couch. "Sora's going to be gone for two days, and I just don't feel like being alone. You're better than nothing."

I picked my bag off the floor and moved closer to him. "Why not invite someone else?"

He sighed in annoyance again. "Because I just…I don't know." The way he was getting so defensive, I got the feeling that he just didn't want to admit that he actually wanted me to be there, that I was more than just a last resort.

"Well, how about your brother?" I asked the question carefully because it hadn't been very long since the fight in Gagazet, and I had no idea if they'd even talked since then.

"Are you deaf? Sora is in Traverse Town doing a TV interview or something equally as stupid."

"I guess it's my fault for assuming you have more than one brother," I teased.

"Cloud has his own life." Vincent had resorted to nipping at Roxas' feet, and the boy nudged him away gently. "I didn't want to bother him."

I laughed and bent down to pet the dog again. "So you're saying I don't have a life?"

"If the shoe fits." He looked down at me.

I stood back up, never breaking our eye contact. The way he was staring at me was already making me feel like I wouldn't be able to control myself. How was I going to survive two whole days acting like I didn't want to kiss the boy senseless? It would have been so easy to push Roxas over the back of the couch and have my way with him.

Luckily, I was able to come to the conclusion that it would not be such a good idea. Not only would it ruin everything that was just starting to happen between me and the youngest Strife, but it would also damage my friendships with his brothers and the rest of his friends. I'd become quite fond of them all, and the thought of losing every single one of them because of one moment of horrible judgment was too unbearable to think about.

Not to mention, Roxas deserved more than some heat of the moment make-out session. He deserved to be loved like I never had been, and the thought that I wanted to be the one to show him that was such a foreign thing to me. How would I even know how to love someone? The only thing I was certain that I was capable of was treating someone like they didn't exist. If there was one thing my parents taught me, it was that.

My train of thought effectively nullified my urge to ravage the blond, and even if it hadn't, Roxas clearing his throat, breaking our eye contact and pushing himself away from the couch would have done the trick. "Why don't you put your things in my room?"

He turned around and headed for the staircase, but I just stood there in place like some kind of an idiot. "…your room?"

He stopped mid-step when he realized I wasn't following him. "Yea. Plus, I figured I'd give you the grand tour so you don't feel the need to snoop around again."

"Ha, ha, very funny." And just like that, everything was back to normal again. It was funny how teasing each other seemed to be a natural thing for Roxas and me.

"So, are you coming or not?" He nodded his head to the side, inviting me to follow him, and just like an obedient puppy; I did as I was told.

We made our way silently up the stairs. My excuse was that I was too overwhelmed by the whole room situation to form coherent sentences. The prospect of sharing a room with Roxas was beyond anything I had imagined when he first invited me over. Roxas was pretty quiet most of the time anyway, but it was the way he was quiet as we walked towards his room that felt a little different. He seemed a little stiff as we made our ways down the hallway, and he even looked back over his shoulder a couple times in that short period of time, like he was making sure I was still there.

The sun was setting early as it usually did during the winter months, so when he finally led me to a door at the end of the hall and opened it, it was quite dark in the room. There was still enough light to see by, but it was dim. It was as if a shadow had been cast over the whole space. Despite the lack of light, I could see that the room was very large in size. By then, I had been conditioned to expect every single thing the Strife's owned to be huge, so it was no surprise to me.

Roxas' room seemed normal enough, and nothing really stood out to me until I glanced over at the computer desk and noticed something awfully familiar. There, looking as if it had always been in that same place, was the picture frame I had discovered at the Strifes' mansion on Halloween night. It was sitting up normally, though, so the photo inside could be seen. Seeing the item again after all I'd discovered about Roxas and his relationship with his brothers, gave me a weird feeling.

I didn't have time to think about much else because Roxas spoke up and brought all my attention back to him. "Well, this is it." He held a hand out and gestured around the room. "This is where you'll be staying."

"So we're going to be sleeping together?" I threw my bag on the floor and smirked.

"No," he said simply. "I'm going to be sleeping in Sora's room, so there will be no bed sharing."

"I never said anything about sharing a bed."

Even in the dimming light I could still see Roxas turn pale as he turned around swiftly so I could no longer see his face. He walked over to his closet. "Yea, well you implied it." He opened the door and started to sift through the clothes that were hanging up inside. It was obvious that he wasn't searching for anything in particular and was just trying to avoid having to look at me.

"No I didn't," I said, watching the boy's back. He tensed a little when he heard my voice. "I was just thinking we were going be sharing a room. The bed was your idea. Not that it was a bad one, but you clearly have other things on your mind."

"You're impossible." He reached up to the top shelf, and I was quick to notice that his shirt lifted slightly, exposing some of his skin.

"So, why are you giving up your room for me?" I asked, trying to tear my eyes away from the skin of his back. "It seems kind of unlike you. I mean, since when do you do nice things for people, especially me."

He finally got whatever it was he needed off of the top shelf. If I had been a person with better self control I would have been able to tell what it was, but Roxas unfortunately weakened all of my abilities to function like a normal human being, and so my gaze was frozen in place where his shirt had once been raised.

Suddenly, I was hit in the face with something, and though the object was practically light as a feather, being shocked out of my trance like that was enough to send me flying backwards like I'd just been punched in the nose. I landed against the computer desk awkwardly and reached backwards to steady myself and prevent any damage to my body.

In the process of trying to preserve myself, for the second time in the span of a couple weeks, I sent that ancient picture frame tumbling to the floor. I was definitely some kind of living curse for that sad, little thing.

Even though it landed on the soft carpet, the noise it made when it hit the ground sounded like a bomb exploding. It must have had someone watching over it because even though it was on the verge of collapse, it stayed in tact. And I don't know why, maybe because I was crazy, but that frame started to take on a life of it's own in my mind. It had obviously been through hell and back by the looks of it, and still, despite me and the world trying to break it, it stayed strong and never broke. I envied the damn thing, and I felt like a complete loser.

Roxas stopped all movement and stared at the frame for countless seconds before glancing back up at me quickly and making his way across the floor to pick it up. I still hadn't moved from my strange position against the desk. I think I was too scared to move. I didn't want anything else to go wrong.

I got the feeling that Roxas was uncomfortable with me knowing that he had gone back and retrieved the frame from his parents' house. I didn't really understand why it was that big of a deal, but I couldn't bring myself to ask any questions about it. I was finally alone with the boy, and I was going to make damn sure that nothing ruined that.

I watched the blond as carefully as I could in the growing darkness. As soon as he bent down and picked the object up off the floor, he inspected it, I assumed to make sure it hadn't broken, and maybe he thought I wasn't looking, but I saw him stare at the photograph inside for a few fleeting moments as he ran a finger across the glass. Finally, he placed it back on the shelf, and instead of putting it face down like he had last time, he set it down correctly.

"You clearly don't know me very well because if you did you'd know I can be a nice person, and I do things like this for my friends all the time." It was as if the whole picture frame incident never happened. "And those were your pillowcases I threw at you. I didn't know you were weak enough to be thrown backwards by some material. I'll keep that in mind for next time."

So many things were running through my mind after listening to Roxas speak that I still couldn't find the will to move away from the desk. "Friends?"

"What?" He asked and bent down to pick up the pillowcases after he realized I wasn't moving.

"Friends," I repeated when finally straightened myself up. I'd already made myself look stupid enough. Plus, my arm was starting to hurt from the weird position I had it in. "You said you do stuff like this for your friends."

He shoved the pillowcases in my hands and jerked a little like he was about to walk away then stopped himself. "Yea, and?"

I took the items from him and clutched them to my chest. It was an important moment, and I needed some comfort. "So do you consider us…friends?"

It was silent for what felt like forever, and thanks to the darkness that was engulfing the room, I couldn't gauge the boy's reaction. I could barely make out a figure standing in front of me, and that's the only way I knew he was still in the room. Though, I think I would have known that he was still there even if it had been pitch black because I liked to believe that we had some kind of connection and could just feel each other's presence.

"I guess so." The voice startled me at first. "I mean…yea. Yea, I do…I guess."

I clutched onto the pillowcases even tighter. I was glad that it was dark, otherwise I'd probably look pretty strange. A grown man finding comfort in an inanimate object like a child would find in a teddy bear was funny, to say the least. "That's good."

"It's not like I had much of a choice." He laughed softly. "You didn't really give me one. It's like every time I turn around, there you are."

Silence washed over us again, and I was at a loss for words. Everything just seemed too good to be true, and I didn't want to open my mouth and say the wrong thing because, for a moment there, I felt like I was on the verge of confessing how much of an effect he had on me, how when he was around my days were brighter, and I was never able to keep the smile off of my face. About how he made me feel like I never had before and made me feel like I wanted to break the promise I made to myself a long time ago that I would never let myself fall in love with anyone, about how I was willing to risk everything I'd built up over the past five years just to be with him.

He'd broken down all my walls and defenses with no trouble at all. It was a frightening thought that someone could do that. If it was that simple for someone accomplish something like that after all my years of making sure I'd never fall victim to love, it was obvious that I could just as easily be torn apart by the very same pain I'd been trying to protect myself from in the first place. As much as that thought worried me, my feelings for Roxas were becoming even stronger, and I knew I was willing to risk everything to feel the way I did when I was around him.

"Um…are you hungry?" He asked after a few seconds, and I heard his feet shuffling across the carpet to the door.

"Yea." It was all I could manage to say as I followed his lead and left the bedroom behind.

* * *

When we got back downstairs and after Roxas turned on the lights, I realized that when I first arrived there I'd been too busy annoying the blond and playing with Vincent that I didn't even bother to take a look around the condo.

The staircase was in the middle of the room, directly across from the entryway. On one side of the place was a kitchen and on the other was a living room. Although, everything was so spacious and open that it was basically like one big giant room.

There was a huge window on one side of the wall that reached from ceiling to floor. There were no curtains covering it, and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable. I kept thinking that anyone could be out there watching us like we were on stage under the bright lights. People could just take seats on the grass outside while eating popcorn and enjoying the show.

"I guess I could call and order pizza or something." Roxas reached for the phone that was lying on the kitchen counter. "Do you want anything special on it, or is there something you specifically don't want?"

"No," I said, still glancing sideways at the wide open window.

"No, what?"

"Uh…" I finally focused all my attention on Roxas. He had one hand on his hip, and I could tell that I was testing his patience. I reached for the phone, but he snatched it back. "I was thinking I could make something to eat."

"I'm being serious here, Axel." He turned the phone on and started to dial a number.

"So am I." I snatched the phone from his hands, catching him completely off guard, and held the device up above his head so he couldn't reach it. Ah, the advantages of being tall. "Making your own food is more satisfying in the end and a lot more fun."

He crossed his arms over his chest and stared up at the object in my hands, not even bothering to reach for it. I think he knew I had won the battle. Eventually, he sighed, and I knew he was about to give in. "Can you even cook?"

"Can I cook?" I laughed. "Can I cook? Of course I can cook!" It was pretty much a lie. I knew how to make a couple things here and there, but I doubt it was anywhere near the cooking skills Roxas was hoping I possessed.

"Alright, I'm listening." He reached out his hand for the phone, and I gave it back to him. "What can you cook?"

I cleared my throat and attempted to stand up even straighter. For some reason, I thought that would make what I was about to say seem better and more dignified. "Well, I can make cereal." Roxas scoffed at me while he leaned back against the counter. I racked my brain for something else, anything else that I'd ever cooked successfully in my whole life that actually took some sort of skill. Surprisingly, even after all of the years that I'd made dinner for myself as a child, I was coming up empty. My cooking skills didn't go very far past frozen dinners and cereal. Suddenly, I remembered a few weeks before when I was incredibly bored and Zexion actually forced me to learn something productive. Thank God for overbearing best friends. "I can make scrambled eggs," I said proudly.

It took a few seconds for Roxas to respond, but once he did I almost wished he hadn't responded at all. He started to laugh hysterically, and for a couple seconds I felt a little insulted. I was really proud of those pathetic and slightly runny scrambled eggs I made.

After a few more moments of hearing and watching the blond laugh, I forgot how offended I felt in the first place, and the only things that filled my mind were that bright smile on Roxas' face and the sound of his overflowing laughter. I even let out a few chuckles of my own, forgetting all about my hurt pride.

It didn't take long for the laughter to die down, though, even though I wanted it to continue forever. Roxas lifted the phone back up. "Yea, I'm calling for pizza."

"No!" I knew I was pouting, but I couldn't help it. I was trying to create a moment there, and the stubborn blond was hindering the process with his need for perfect food. "They spit in the pizza."

He looked at me suspiciously. "How do you know?"

"It's a known fact that people spit in restaurant food." I loved my ability to make up false stories out of nowhere. It didn't look like I was fooling Roxas, though.

"So, you guys spit in the food you make at the bakery?"

"What? No! That's disgusting."

"Then how do you know the pizza place I'm going to order from spits in their food?" He pointed the phone at me accusingly.

"Ok." I raised my hands up in defeat. "I don't know, but I just think we should make something on our own."

"You're really dedicated to making sure we do that, aren't you?" he said. "So you want us to have cereal and scrambled eggs for dinner? That sounds logical."

"Since when have I ever been logical," I asked, and Roxas nodded his head in agreement. "How about you? Don't you know how to cook anything?"

"Not really. Sora is the one who cooks around here most of the time." That didn't surprise me. The brunette did seem to have quite an affinity for food. "Cloud did teach me how to make spaghetti once when I was younger but—"

"Perfect," I said, bouncing in place slightly. "You'll get your perfect dinner food, and I'll learn something new in the process!"

"You didn't let me finish." He crossed one of his legs over the other. "I learned to make it a long time ago, and I haven't made it since. It's not like I'll even remember how." He paused for a minute only to speak up again almost instantly. "And who said anything about you learning something? I'm not going to teach you how to cook."

"You didn't have any problem teaching me how to snowboard."

"Yea, and look how well that turned out."

"We're making spaghetti," I said and walked further into the kitchen. I picked up a pan that was lying on the stove and set it on one of the burners.

Roxas hopped up on top of the counter and made himself comfortable. "Go right ahead."

"But I don't know how," I protested. "I need you." As soon as I said it the room went still again. Roxas just sat there blinking, and I wondered if he was thinking there was anything else behind my words. In truth, it was just an innocent statement, but I couldn't help thinking that maybe subconsciously I wanted it to mean something more.

"And you'll have me." I nearly choked on the air I was breathing in as the words escaped his mouth, but he didn't seem too fazed by them. Apparently, I was the only crazy one in the room hearing things that weren't really said. "I'll be sitting here telling you what to do, and you'll obey my every order," He said smugly.

"You're no fun," I said over my shoulder as I began looking for the supplies I'd need.

"The pasta and sauce are in that cupboard." Roxas pointed to one of the cupboards right above the stove. "And I thought it was a known fact that I'm not any fun?"

"Who said that? I'm sure you're lots of fun when you actually loosen up." I found the ingredients easily and brought them down. "What next?"

"Fill the pan up with water. Like halfway full," He informed me. By the sound of his voice I could tell that he was enjoying bossing me around, and to be perfectly honest, I didn't even mind it. "I used to be fun but not so much anymore, or so it seems."

I brought the pan over to the sink that Roxas was sitting next to. I turned on the faucet and let the water begin to fill it up as I turned to face the boy. It was weird not having to bow my head down to look at him. "What do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean by what?" I knew that he knew what I was talking about, but he was obviously trying to avoid the subject.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed onto the edges of the counter. "Why don't you think you're fun anymore?"

"I don't know."

"I think you do."

"And I think the pan is way more than halfway full, and you're already ruining our dinner," He said as he pointed down to the sink. Sure enough the water had already risen past what it was supposed to, and I hadn't even noticed because I was so easily distracted by blue eyes. "No wonder you suck at cooking. You can't even fill a pan with water."

Roxas was good at changing the subject, and I let it go, not wanting to cause any waves. I took the pan back over to the stove. "Now what?"

"Now you let the water boil, put the linguine in, and then you're basically done." He was looking down at the phone when he said it and not even paying attention to what I was doing. Some teacher he was.

I turned the heat on and opened the box of pasta. Too bad I not only lacked cooking skills but also lacked common sense as well because as soon as it was opened, I dumped the whole box into the pan.

"What are you doing?" Roxas shouted out as I heard him jump off the counter. I turned around and looked at him innocently, but he was too busy inspecting my work. "You ruined it." He looked like he was trying to keep his amusement from showing itself.

"I did exactly what you said!" At least I thought I had. Lord knows when Roxas was around it was a miracle that I could even make normal conversation. Why did he have to be so damn distracting?

"Uh…no you didn't," he said as he peered down into the pan. "I said wait till the water boils, and _then_ put the spaghetti in. Not dump the whole freaking box in and let it just float there till the water gets hot."

"You're supposed to be the teacher here," I said grinning down at the blond. "So that means the fault lies in you. You obviously aren't a very good teacher."

"Is that so?" Roxas looked up at me with a scowl on his face, and it honestly looked a bit forced. "Maybe if my student wasn't such a moron I'd have an easier time teaching."

"Oh, really?" I raised my eyebrow at the blond and he continued to stare me down. Or up, considering I was towering over him.

I glanced over at the supposedly ruined meal and suddenly got an idea. Apparently, Roxas didn't notice the mischief written all over my face because he did nothing to stop me when I reached over into the pan. I picked up one of the soggy noodles and rolled it around in my fingers for a few seconds. I felt my grin grow even bigger when I looked down at him. At first, he looked completely perplexed, but at the last moment his eyes grew wide. I knew he had caught on, but it was too late.

I took the noodle in my hand and flung it forward. It landed right on the boy's face and he froze, letting the piece of food slide off and down onto the floor. I almost thought that he wasn't going to do anything because he stood in place for so long, and I let my guard down slightly. That was a huge mistake because as soon as I did, Roxas made a flying leap for the pan and shoved his hand down in it. He pulled out a fist full of spaghetti, and before I could make any counteracting moves, his hand and the noodles were flying towards my face at full speed.

I opened my mouth to protest but instead got a mouthful of spaghetti and Roxas's hand. I was stunned momentarily as I stumbled backwards and came to terms with the fact that I had food and water all over my face. The blond in front of me no longer hid his amusement and doubled over in hysterics. He was a fool to think it was going to end at that because as soon as I knew he was completely distracted by his own mirth, I lunged forward and grabbed the pan off of the stove. Roxas' head shot up, and I ran as fast as I could to the other side of the counter.

"That's not fair," he said, and his eyes widened in panic.

I was proud of myself for actually taking the upper hand, but the feeling didn't last long because I saw Roxas look around frantically, then I noticed the gleam in his eye as he spotted the jar of sauce that was sitting right next to the stove. I cursed myself for being so careless. I was right there, and I could have taken the sauce, but instead I was stuck with a pan full of soggy noodles. Tomato sauce trumped noodles any day of the week when it came to having a food fight, and Roxas knew that, too, because a wicked grin danced over his lips as he turned around to look at me. He moved slowly over towards me until we were almost face to face with only the counter to separate us. That creepy grin never left his face as he started to twist off the cap of the jar, and I knew I was doomed.

"Maybe we can work this out like reasonable adults." I tried to reason with him, but he showed no signs of backing down, so I shoved my hand down into the container I was holding and made sure to get as much food as I could in my fist. I was going to need as much ammunition as possible to try and battle against the blond.

"No, I don't think we can." He removed the top slowly and let it fall noisily to the floor. He was using scare tactics on me, but it wasn't going to work. I was stronger than that. "You started it…" He dipped a finger into the sauce, then brought it up to his mouth. "And I'm going to finish it."

He opened his mouth and started to lick the sauce off of his finger. He let his tongue slowly swirl all around, and it might have been the hottest thing I'd ever seen. The action caused me to almost forget about everything. He knew what he was doing, and I wasn't going to let him win. I couldn't. There was a war to be fought, and I needed to keep my head in the game. Just when I thought I had a hold of myself, his lips closed around his finger, and he started to pull it out as slow as possible, making a popping sound at the end when it was completely free.

I was gone. I was so far beyond gone that the light from gone wouldn't even have been able to touch me. I just stood there like a statue, completely unable to even remember what was happening in the first place. Roxas was playing dirty, and he was winning.

I was pulled out of my stupor when I heard rapid footsteps and noticed that Roxas wasn't where he had been before I lost all sense of reality. I saw him just in time as he was making his way around the counter to where I was standing. I ran the opposite direction back onto the tile floor of the kitchen, and I thought I was safe. I thought the blond would have been on the other side of the counter by then, like I had been earlier. But I underestimated his speed, and obviously my mind was still focused on other things because almost as soon as I took a breath of relief, I felt that I wasn't alone.

I slowly turned to my left. There was Roxas, standing with the jar of sauce in his hand and grinning at me just as evilly as ever. "You can't escape me, Red." The nickname wasn't as cute coming from him when we were in the middle of a battle, but it still did its job in weakening my ever crumbling defenses.

"No, Roxy, I think it's you who can't escape me." I hoped that he caught onto the double meaning of my words, but I'm not sure if he flinched because he actually did grasp it, or if it was just because of the nickname.

We stood silently across from one another for what felt like eternity. It was like both of us were trying to intimidate the other, trying to get one another to back down. But I was standing my ground and so was Roxas. I don't know why we even bothered. It was obvious from the start that neither one of us was going to surrender, even though I had sort of tried to get out of it earlier. That was ancient history, and I could feel the taste of sweet victory within my grasp. The short blond may have had a better weapon and the ability to stun me momentarily by the use of dirty methods, but I had height and a pan full of spaghetti, and that had to count for something.

Eventually, Roxas lowered the jar in his hands, and it looked like he was about to give up. It was a suspicious move, and I wasn't about to let my guard down until he looked at me with his big, blue eyes in the most pitiful of ways. Without even knowing it, I let go of the noodles in my fist and brought my hand out of the pan. "Roxas?"

And just like that, I proved myself to be the easiest person to trick in all of history because as soon as I let go and took my mind off of the war at hand for one second, Roxas was charging at me full speed ahead.

Just before he reached me, I let the pan fall out of my hands. It was obvious that it was going to be of no use to me, and I needed both of my hands free to take Roxas on. It fell to the floor making a loud clanging sound that filled up the whole house and rang in my ears. The spaghetti and water went flying everywhere, but that didn't stop the boy from taking one last flying leap towards me, determined to douse me in the red substance.

I wasn't going to let that happen, though. Despite being soaked in water and having bits and pieces of spaghetti on my face and in my hair, I was ready to fight to the death. Hypothetically, of course.

When Roxas was close enough to reach and just as he was about to turn the jar over in his hands, I grabbed onto his wrists and held him captive. "Not so strong now, are we?"

The boy wriggled in my grasp, but it was no use, I had him right where I wanted him. I was too consumed by our little food fight to really notice that we were practically pressed up against one another and I had him completely restrained. It was a good thing, though, because a realization like that would have certainly cemented my defeat.

"Let me go!" he tried to twist his arms, but I held them steady in place. "You can't do this! It's against the rules."

I laughed. "What rules?" He glared up at me, still trying to escape. "Oh, you mean the ones that allow you to play dirty to try and stun your opponent?" I bent down so I was right in his face and smirked. "Well, we're playing by my rules now."

"Like hell we are," he said, and he thrust his hips forward. The contact was enough to make me slightly loosen my grip on the boy but not completely let go.

He managed to tip the jar in my direction, and a bit of the substance dripped out and landed on my cheek. I got control of Roxas' hand again and forced the container in the opposite direction. Quite a lot of the sauce landed right on top of his shiny, blond hair and dripped down onto his face and clothes. He growled out and shoved me backwards with a strength I didn't know he possessed as he tried to tip the jar my way again, but I pushed back against him, and before I knew it, we were pushing each other back and forth. Tomato sauce was flying every which way, coloring us and the surrounding area in bright red.

When the jar was practically empty and I felt like I didn't have anymore strength left to give, I let go of Roxas, and he backed away momentarily. Then, without warning, he slung the jar out in my direction, and the last smidgen of the sauce that was left flew out and landed right on my nose. I couldn't take it anymore, so I just slid down to the floor. I didn't even care that I was covered in food and soaking wet or that I was sitting in it. The only thing I could do was just start laughing. And when I began laughing, Roxas started in, as well. Suddenly, we were both hysterical and rolling around in the mess we had created, trying to catch our breaths.

It was the most amazing feeling, and I never wanted it to end. I wanted to stay there on that filthy floor, drenched in sauce and covered in spaghetti, just as long as it meant I could I always feel the way I was feeling then.

Roxas and I were so busy crying with laughter that neither one of us noticed the sound of a key in the lock or the front door opening. It wasn't until we heard the footsteps and voices that we realized someone else was there. Someone was there, and they were going to see us acting like a couple of crazy people.

"We come bearing food!" Cloud rounded the corner of the entryway with Kadaj in tow, each of them carrying two brown paper bags.

They both stopped dead in their tracks when they laid their eyes upon Roxas and me on the floor and the complete and utter disaster area that was once a kitchen

"Roxas," the oldest Strife sibling started out as he stepped forward carefully, "what's going on here?"

The shorter of the two blonds lifted himself off the floor and tried to hide his smile. "Nothing." He picked a piece of spaghetti out of his hair while Cloud stared at him curiously. "Ok, we sort of had a food fight. Axel ruined our meal, so thank God you showed up." He opened up one of the paper bags that his brother was holding and peered inside.

"It's Chinese food," Kadaj volunteered as he observed the damage that we'd caused. When he looked at me and smiled I realized that Vincent has made his way into the kitchen and was licking some sauce off my shoe. I picked myself up off the floor and shook my head to get the food out of it.

"And yes, we got your precious egg rolls," Cloud told his brother, and Roxas nearly shuddered in delight. "What's Axel doing here?" That caught my attention, and I stopped picking the spaghetti off my clothes and lifted my head up. The tall blond looked over in my direction. "What are you doing here? Not that I really care, it's just…"

"I invited him," Roxas said as he snatched one of the bags away from Cloud and started digging through it. "He's staying here while Sora's away."

Kadaj stepped forward, trying to avoid stepping in anything. It was a difficult process considering half the floor was littered in some kind of food. "You're staying here?" He eyed me suspiciously and found some clean space on the counter to set the bags he was holding. "Like staying over…at night?"

I suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable as all eyes in the room were on me. But none made me feel as uneasy as the pair of green eyes that seemed to be reading all of my thoughts. "Uh, yea. Is that a problem?" I asked. Kadaj just gave me a small smile and shrugged.

"Of course not." Vincent started to jump around Cloud's heels, and he bent down and picked the dog up, carefully. Its little paws were soaked in tomato sauce so the man held it out at arms length and looked at it pitiably. "Roxas could use the company, and so could Vincent. Isn't that right, little guy?" Cloud reached out for a paper towel and started to wipe the dog clean.

"Are you implying that I don't take care of that thing?" Roxas had abandoned the first bag and was already moving onto the next.

"Well, have you even taken the poor thing out for a walk yet?"

The younger sibling finally found what he was looking for. He pulled the smaller plastic bag out and practically ripped it open. "I was going to."

Vincent started wriggling in Cloud's grasp. "I think we should do that right now," he said. Roxas, who had just grabbed one of his egg rolls, looked up at his brother incredulously. "The food will still be here when you get back. Sora wouldn't appreciate the fact that you're practically neglecting his dog, so get your jacket and we'll take him out."

The shorter male shoved the food in his mouth and took a bite before replying, "Why don't you take him out for a walk yourself?"

"You're lucky I'm even volunteering to go with you." Cloud stepped out of the kitchen and scanned the area. "Where's his leash?"

Roxas sighed and reluctantly set his food back down. "It's hanging up next to the door. Can't you use your eyes?" He brushed his clothes off before making his way out of the messy area and into the living room. He grabbed his jacket off the arm of the couch, put in on and walked over to where Cloud was kneeling in the entryway.

"You act like taking care of this dog is such a huge task." Cloud laughed as he hooked the leash onto the dog's collar and stood up. "It's not so bad." He placed a hand on his younger sibling's shoulder. "And don't worry about Axel. He has Kadaj to keep him company."

That brought my attention back the silver-haired male who had taken to leaning against the pantry door. He was still looking at me strangely, and that annoying little knowing smile never left his face.

"I'm _not_ worrying about Axel." Roxas was quick to deny his brother's words. "In fact, I think leaving him alone with Kadaj is a perfect idea." The boy looked over at me, and I felt like I was missing something.

"You guys can set the food out on the table, and when we get back we'll eat. Afterward, we'll help clean up this disgusting mess." Cloud was clearly the sensible one of the family. I guessed that came with being older. Although, he was only two years older than me and I was nowhere near his level of maturity. Roxas made a face at his brother, but I heard the front door open and saw a hand reach behind his back to shove him forward. "We'll be back in a few minutes."

The door shut, leaving Kadaj and I alone. I stood in place for a few seconds as the other male walked over to the counter and pulled out one of the white boxes from a random bag. As soon as he had it in his hands, he opened a drawer by the refrigerator and grabbed a spoon. He leaned back against the appliance and started watching me again as he opened the container.

I picked up a couple of the bags and carried them over to the dining room table. "What did Roxas mean when he said leaving me alone with you was the perfect idea?"

He chuckled and tapped the spoon against the edges of the carton. "Who knows? I guess he just knows me well."

I didn't know if that was supposed to make any sense, but I had absolutely no clue what he meant by that. It wasn't until a few seconds later, when I was setting all of the food out on the table that I started to get the picture. Kadaj reminded me of Riku in a lot of ways. They were both sort of annoying, and they had the ability to make you feel extremely uncomfortable with little to no effort at all. The silver-haired male never stopped observing me even as he started to eat his food. I felt like I was being held under a microscope, like every little move I made was being studied carefully and even worse; judged. I felt like Kadaj knew something but he was keeping it inside just so he could drive me to the brink of insanity.

I pulled out the last contents of one of the bags, which happened to be a small clear bag of fortune cookies, and I just couldn't take it anymore. The sinister smile that was growing on the other man's face as he kept his eyes glued to me was getting to me, and I knew I was about to give Kadaj exactly what he wanted. "What?" I practically screamed it out.

He looked at me warily. "What's your problem?"

"My problem?" I laughed wryly and snatched one of the empty paper bags from the table. "You're the one staring at me with that shit eating grin on your face."

He picked up a bit of rice with the spoon only to let it fall back into the carton. "And you're the one who's covered in food and generally looks like shit warmed over, so what's your point?"

I crumbled the bag up into a ball and threw it in his direction. I was ready to play his game. "You have something on your mind and you're just dying to let it out, so don't act so innocent."

He laughed and set the box of rice down on the stove. "Me, innocent?" He grabbed the last two bags from the counter. "Hardly. I just like torturing my victims before I go in for the kill." He walked over to where I was standing and placed the bags on the table. Then he turned around to face me and rested one of his hands on the table's surface. "Makes everything more fun, dontcha think?"

"Oh yea, I'm having loads of fun," I said sarcastically, but in truth I really was, in some odd way, having fun. I lived for the kinds of games and challenges that Kadaj was providing me with. "Now why don't you just spill it?"

He tilted his head to the side, like he was inspecting me one last time, and then his grin grew ten-fold. "So you're staying here with Roxas for a couple days?"

"Duh, you already knew that."

"Yea, you're right. I did, didn't I?"

He was really starting to creep me out. "If that's what you had to say all along, then I'd say your whole plan was a failure." I started to empty one of the other two bags.

He laughed and for some reason that time it sent chills up my spine. "You really underestimate me, don't you?" He took a seat on the edge of the table. "You should never do that."

I sighed in annoyance. "Then what is it that you have to say?"

"Ok, I think you've suffered enough." He hopped off the table and turned to face me once again, but I kept my attention on the task at hand and didn't give him the satisfaction of looking at him. "I would have liked to keep you squirming for a little while longer, but seeing as Cloud and Roxas will be back at any moment and we're running out of time, I'm willing to make an exception." And even though he said he was done with his game, he stayed silent for a few more moments. I guess he just had to drag it out for a while longer. "How are you going to be able to control yourself?"

I wavered a bit in my unpacking but forced myself to keep my focus on the small white boxes. "What do you mean?"

"Oh, I think you know." With each passing second and every response he got from me, I could tell his amusement was growing even bigger. I decided that my encounter with Kadaj might have been even worse than the one I'd had with his brother.

"Well, I don't."

"Being in the same house with him alone for so long has to be hard, yea?" I stopped in the middle of everything I was doing, my hand still reaching down into the bag. A small laugh escaped Kadaj's lips, and I felt a finger under my chin as he lifted my head up, forcing me to look at him. The innocent expression on his face was contradicting all of his actions and every word he said. "Especially when he doesn't know how you feel." His nose scrunched up, and his mouth turned up into one of the kindest smiles I'd ever seen.

The whole situation was messing with my mind. I didn't know whether to freak out over the fact that he obviously knew about my feelings for Roxas or pat him on the head and tell him he did a good job. It was amazing to me how his actions could be so disturbing, yet he could look like the cutest little thing I'd ever seen. Like a small child looking up at me with big, round eyes, begging for approval. Kadaj was really good at what he did.

Eventually, I was able to shake myself out of whatever weird state I'd been in, and I pushed him away playfully. "Does reading minds run in your family or something?"

"I'm usually good at seeing this kind of stuff for myself, but this time I had to rely on Riku to inform me of your little situation." He pulled the last bag over to him and helped to set everything out on the table. His transition from devious and insane to helpful and normal was interesting to witness. "I won't let that happen again."

"So, Riku told you?" I asked before licking off a bit of sauce that had leaked out of one of the boxes and onto my hand. "I should have known."

"Don't worry, though." He looked at me sincerely. "Your secret's safe with us."

"Ha! Yea, safe with a couple of psycho people." I walked away to retrieve the silverware we would need for the meal. "That's nothing to worry about at all."

"You have a bigger problem to worry about than Riku and me keeping your secret."

I grabbed a handful of forks and spoons and walked back over to the table. "Oh, really, and what's that?" I didn't take Kadaj's words seriously after all he'd put me through, so I wasn't fully prepared for what he said next.

"Roxas isn't gay."

His words took me completely by surprise. They hit me like a ton of bricks, and I never even saw them coming. In all of my time thinking about and obsessing over the boy, I'd never actually considered that, just maybe, he was straight. I could have been setting myself up for a huge disaster, and I didn't even know it. The whole time I was so worried about letting myself fall for Roxas and scared that something would go wrong and I would only wind up hurt in the end, it never once crossed my mind that maybe from the very beginning I never even had a chance, that it was my own self that was going to cause all the pain.

"At least I don't think so." Kadaj must have noticed how distressed I'd become because it didn't take him long to speak up again. He pried the silverware out of my fingers before continuing. "I mean, I've known Roxas for like five years, and I've never seen him show any interest in boys, but I've also never seen him show attraction for the opposite sex either. So, I don't know, maybe the kid is just asexual or something."

Despite the fact that my once optimistic mood was on the verge of collapse, I still couldn't help the small smile that appeared on my lips at Kadaj's stupid joke. I didn't know if he said what he did just to make me feel better or if it was actually true, but I convinced myself that there was even just a small chance that Roxas felt at least something when he was around me. I mean, I couldn't have been just been seeing what I wanted to. The way he looked at me sometimes when things were quiet, the way he said things to me occasionally when we were alone. It couldn't have all been in my mind.

A few weeks ago, just the thought of being friends with Roxas was enough to satisfy me, but somewhere along the way I'd lost my way, and the only thing I could think about was feelings and love. Without even really noticing it, I began to let my heart do all the thinking for me. I needed to come back to earth. If friends was all I was meant to be with Roxas, then that was better than nothing, and I could always hold onto the small hope that maybe Kadaj was wrong.

As soon as I pulled myself together, I heard the door open. Cloud and Roxas had returned from walking Vincent.

"You guys actually got something done without me holding your hands?" Cloud teased as he hung the leash back up and walked over to the table. He looked at the all the food we'd set out and took a seat on the opposite side of the table. "I'm so proud."

Roxas wasted no time in making his way over, as well, and tore back into the bag of egg rolls. "I see you survived being alone with Kadaj," ee said to me with his mouth full.

I took my seat and looked over at the blond. "Yea, barely." I heard Kadaj snicker at my words, but I didn't take my eyes off of Roxas.

"Don't worry," He said as he finally swallowed his mouthful of food. He smiled at me so genuinely, and even though it was amazing, it still made my heart hurt. "It gets easier."

"Yea, I hope so."

* * *

Dinner passed by relatively uneventfully. I kept silent most of the time and let everyone else do the talking. I couldn't really find the will to say anything after my conversation with Kadaj. It didn't matter that much, though. I liked to listen in on others' conversations, anyway. It helped me to learn more about people. It's amazing the things you can find out by just keeping silent and observing.

Roxas talked more during that dinner than he probably had the entire time I'd known him, and I loved listening to him talk. I loved the sound of his voice, but most of all I liked seeing that things between him and Cloud seemed to be going well. After the incident between the two on Halloween and then the whole fight that happened while we were in Gagazet, things seemed to be spiraling downwards rapidly for the brothers. To see them comfortable with one another and talking openly and friendly was a relief to me.

Seeing Roxas and Cloud laugh with each other reminded me of that sad, old frame sitting up in the youngest Strifes' room and the photograph inside. The camera had captured an instant in time that neither one of them would ever get back. It was sad to think of it that way, but it was also amazing to see how their family had stuck together and remained so grounded. I wondered if Roxas could really see what was right in front of his face in that moment, if he knew how content and normal he looked sitting at the table and eating with his brother, Kadaj, and me. I wondered if he would ever look back at that time, like he did at that old photograph, and think of it as a time he wished he could go back to.

Despite my somewhat intricate thoughts, the night was pretty pleasant, and in time I almost forgot all about how disappointed I'd been earlier in the evening. By the time we all finished dinner and started to clean up the kitchen, I seemed to be back to my normal self and joking around with everyone else. Spending time with Cloud and Kadaj turned out to be a lot more exciting than I would have thought, and I enjoyed their company almost as much as I did Roxas'.

The two visitors left at about nine-thirty, and it was only then that I remembered how filthy Roxas and I were from our earlier food fight. The boy suggested that I take a shower first. When I got done and finally felt refreshed and not like I was supposed to be part of someone's meal, it was his turn. He told me to make myself at home, and that's how I found myself just wandering around the living room, searching for something to look at. Not that there was really very much that couldn't be seen from practically anywhere on the downstairs floor, but there was one thing that caught my eye, and I was immediately drawn to it.

On the left side of the huge window in the living room was the largest set of shelves I'd ever laid eyes on. And on those shelves were probably thousands upon thousands of DVDs. It was like walking straight into a video store. I don't think I ever could have accomplished watching that many movies in a lifetime.

In the middle of my gawking, I felt my cell phone vibrating in my pocket. I pulled the thing out without really taking my eyes off of the items in front of me and answered it. "Hello?"

"Did I catch you in the middle of something?" The voice on the other end asked. "If you know what I mean…"

"No, you idiot," I said and was finally able to pry my attention away from the shelves.

"Because, you know, I could call back later if you want me to."

"Zexion." I plopped down on the couch. "I'm about this close to hanging up on you right now."

My best friend laughed. "So what are you doing right now?"

I realized that Sora and Roxas's couch was the most comfortable thing I'd ever sat on, so I pulled my legs up against my chest and snuggled into the fluffy cushions. "Nothing, Roxas is taking a shower, and I'm sitting here in the living room in front of a huge open window. It's creepy, I feel like I'm being watched."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," Zexion said. I knew he wasn't going to stop there. "I don't think anyone in their right mind would want to watch you."

"Do you have a reason for calling, or are you just trying to get on my nerves?" I fluffed one of the couch pillows and stuck it behind my head.

"Can't a person call their best friend?" He asked. "I miss you. What am I supposed to do without you here bothering me when I'm trying to read?"

I smirked and switched the phone to my opposite ear. "You could always call up Demyx," I suggested. "He is completely in love with you, after all. He'd do whatever you wanted him to do, so I'm sure he'd have absolutely no problem sitting there silently, watching you read some boring ass book."

It was quiet on the other end of the line. I almost thought he hung up, then I heard him laugh in disbelief. "He is not in love with me." My roommate was clearly in denial mode. "And we don't have anything in common, anyway."

"Well, you know what they say..." I stopped and waited for Zexion's reaction, which eventually came.

"There are a million things _they_ could say," he replied. "Are you assuming that I could possibly know exactly what you're talking about?"

I laughed and ran a hand through my damp hair, half expecting to feel a piece of spaghetti fall out of it. "They say opposites attract."

"So, you mean like you and Roxas?"

I shot up from my lying position and choked on absolutely nothing. "I'm hanging up now."

"Can't handle the truth?"

"No," I lied. "It has absolutely nothing to do with that. It's just that Roxas is coming back." That was the truth, at least. I'd heard a door upstairs open and shut.

"Of course, wouldn't want to take any attention away from him by talking to your best friend who misses you dearly." He wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was having the time of his life teasing me. I suppose I brought it on myself by bringing up Demyx.

Roxas was making his way down the stairs and looking at me curiously. "That's right, now goodbye, Zexion." I said his name more for the benefit of the blond than anything else. He seemed satisfied with knowing who it was and walked over to the dining room table.

"See ya, lover boy."

I rolled my eyes and hung up the phone just as Roxas was making his way back over with a tiny, clear plastic bag. He held it up to show me as he took a seat on the opposite end of the couch. "We forgot our fortune cookies."

I nodded in response. "So, it's good to see that you and Cloud worked everything out."

He pulled out one of the tiny treats and tossed it over to me. It hit me in the chest when I didn't even bother to try and catch it. "We didn't."

That wasn't the response I had expected. "What do you mean?"

He pulled out his fortune cookie and set it to the side. "I mean, we didn't actually work anything out. We never do." I had no idea what he was talking about, and I think he caught onto that fact because sighed and continued on. "My family just ignores problems." His face scrunched up a little, and he started to pick at the plastic bag. "When it's been drilled into your head for so many years that you have to be perfect and problems aren't to be exposed, you just learn how to forget about them, or at least my brothers do."

I didn't know what to say to that, so I just sat there twirling the small cookie around my fingers. Moments of silence passed where neither one of us said anything. I guess we were just both caught up in our own thoughts.

"What do your tattoos mean?"

His voice startled me, and I dropped the fortune cookie to the floor. That was one question I never planned on him asking and something I'd hoped I never have to answer. I didn't really think I could talk about the reason, but I also knew I would have a terrible time lying to Roxas, especially about something that big. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place with absolutely no easy solution to my problem. I must have looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "Uh…"

"Don't worry about it." He waved me off. "You don't have to tell me. I just thought…" He trailed off without bothering to finish his sentence, and it made me feel like a horrible person. Even still, I couldn't bring myself to let him in on anything. Not then. I just couldn't do it yet. "I was thinking that tomorrow you could meet my friends. You know, Hayner, Pence and Olette."

I was grateful for the subject change, but it didn't really stop me from feeling like a complete bastard. "I have to go to work in the morning but, yea, that would be cool." I could have teased him about how he wanted to meet the friends and how it was a big step in our relationship, but for some reason I just wasn't in the mood.

"Oh…" He looked down at his hands. "Do you think, maybe, I could go with you?"

I looked over at him in surprise, and he lifted his head back up. "You want to go and sit around the bakery for seven hours?"

"Yea, why not? It would be better than sitting around here all day by myself."

I laughed and picked up my fallen fortune cookie. "Hardly, but if you want to come then no one's gonna stop you. I think Marluxia would welcome you with open arms, actually. Especially since you're the one who suggested his bakery to your father."

Roxas gave me a half smile but said nothing. I let my eyes search the room, and once again they landed on the shelves full of DVD's. I practically leapt off the couch and made my way over to them. "You think you guys have enough movies?" I asked, letting my eyes graze over them.

"Most of them belong to Sora," Roxas said. "He's obsessed with collecting them."

"That's cute." I chuckled, and my eyes rested upon a shelf that filled my heart with joy. "We should totally watch a Disney movie!"

"A Disney movie?" Roxas asked. "How old are you?"

I spun around and stared at him incredulously. "Hey, you're never too old to watch Disney movies." He rolled his eyes, and I focused my attention back on finding the perfect one. "Especially the classics. Not to mention, these are _your_ movies."

"They're Sora's. I already told you that."

"Whatever." I pulled out two movies and held them up for the boy to see.

"Am I supposed to care?" He asked, but that didn't stop the corners of his mouth from turning up into a smile that was barely there.

"Yes you are," I lifted one of the movies higher than the other. "I figured you could relate to this one because you're sort of a heartless bastard, just like the beast." Roxas scoffed at me. "You think I'm joking, but I'm not. You guys have a lot more in common than you think. I mean, he lives in a castle and you pretty much live in one too."

"And I suppose you have a lot in common with Belle besides just looking like a woman?" Whatever foul mood that had been placed over us was disappearing, and things felt like they were getting back to normal. Disney movies are just magical like that.

"Or…" I completely ignored Roxas' teases and held up the movie in my other hands. "We could watch the Fox and the Hound because I haven't seen it since I was like ten, and it used to make me cry." That was a true story, but I left out the part where I sort of liked to think of Roxas and me as the two main characters. You know, two completely different people forming a relationship and becoming the best of friends? Yea, it was cheesy, but that's why it was an internal thought and not one I exposed to the world.

"Why don't _you_ just choose one?" Roxas finally paid attention to the fortune cookie in his hand and cracked it open.

I walked over to the TV and put in the movie of my choice without revealing which one it was. I wanted it to be a surprise because that's just the way I was. When I got back over to the couch, Roxas was reading the small white strip of paper in his hand and laughing softly to himself. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"My fortune." He looked down at it again. "You will inherit a large sum of money."

"Too late for that." I chuckled.

"Yea, some fortune." He crumpled the piece of paper up and threw it to the coffee table. "What does yours say?"

Somehow, I almost forgot I even had one. I found the cookie practically falling through the couch cushions and broke it open. I was ready to discover what the all-knowing after dinner treat had to say about my life. I cleared my throat and prepared myself to laugh at the ridiculousness I was about to read.

"A gambler not only will lose what he has…" I trailed off when I realized exactly what it said, and the smile died on my lips. I no longer felt like I was on the verge of laughter. Instead I was starting to feel sickness bubbling in the pit of my stomach. "…but also what he does not."

I glared down at that stupid little thing in my hands for the longest time, trying desperately to suppress the urge to rip it into tiny shreds. I could hear the movie starting in the background, but I just couldn't tear my eyes away from those tiny printed words. Those words that meant absolutely nothing yet everything at the same time. Words that brought back memories I didn't even want to be thinking about in the first place.

"Are you alright?" Roxas' voice was so soft that I almost didn't hear him.

He didn't know anything about my past. He knew nothing about my parents and their fighting, my dad and his gambling problem that tore our family even further apart, and I certainly didn't feel like talking about. All I wanted to do was throw those memories away like the garbage that they were and never have to remember them again. If only it was that easy. "Yea, I'm fine."

I was finally able to let go of the paper and let it fall to the table. I focused my attention on the movie and tried to let everything else go too, but nothing seemed to be working. Even when I tried to imagine Roxas and me in place of Tod and Copper, my mind would still not let the past go, and I was starting to grow a certain hatred for fortune cookies. What did some stupid piece of paper know anyways?

"I like them," Roxas said out of nowhere, and I turned my head instantly to look at him. His eyes captivated me once again. It was like in them I seemed to lose all of my troubles. I felt like with just one look he was healing my broken heart and mending all of my past wounds. With one glance he was able to make me forget about all my pain, and I didn't want him to look away.

"You like what?" I asked when I finally found my voice.

"Your tattoos." He scooted himself closer to me, and I felt my heart start to pound. We sat there for a few seconds, just watching each other, and then he raised one of his hands up and pointed his finger towards my cheek. He moved his finger closer until it was touching the skin right under my left eye, and I thought I was going to die. The way I was feeling at that moment was beyond indescribable. I tried to make sense of everything, but then he slid his finger slowly down the length of my tattoo and all of my thoughts were lost again. "I like them."

He removed his hand from my face, and with a small smile, turned back around to look at the TV. He never moved back over to the other side of the couch, so we sat there right next to each other, and I never felt happier. I smiled triumphantly down at the small paper that I'd only felt content for moments earlier, and I knew nothing could bring me down. Not anymore.

* * *

**This chapter gave me a lot of trouble. I wrote about 4,000 words of it and then no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't get any farther. I was struggling to get the words out of my brain and it just wasn't going the way I wanted it to so I wound up scrapping the whole thing and starting over from scratch. For a few days I seriously thought I was never going to be able to get back into the flow of writing again. It was a horrible feeling. There was a lot more I wanted to add to this chapter but I guess that will have to wait until the next one. It's like I think I'll be able to fit everything I wanted into one chapter but once I start writing I can't stop and the words keep pouring out and soon enough, the chapter is already long enough and I haven't even made it halfway through what I wanted to. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. lol**

**The amount of views, alerts, and everything that this story has received already really blows my mind. I never really expected very many people to take an interest in it. I tend to be really critical of my ideas and writing so you guys make me feel like I'm doing at least something right. **

**If you have any thoughts, comments, critiques, or whatever let me know! I love to hear what you guys think. It can be a great motivator. **

**As always, thanks for reading!**

**:)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

The journey to the bakery the next morning was spent mostly in silence. I got the feeling that Roxas was mulling over the events of the night before in his mind. He just sat there for the majority of the ride with his head up against the window, gazing out at the scenery passing by. It was much like the time I'd driven him to Pence's house on Halloween except I didn't need any directions to get to my place of work, obviously.

Roxas wasn't the only one off in a world of his own. I couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened in the past fifteen hours either. From the moment I received the phone call from the blond up until the point when I woke up that morning with him lying up against me. Apparently, we'd both fallen asleep on the couch during our little Disney movie marathon.

Waking up with Roxas practically on top of me was like a dream come true. Almost. It also made me feel the tiniest bit uneasy as memories of my conversation with Kadaj forced their way through my sleepy haze and woke me up almost instantly.

The warmth that I felt from our bodies touching made it almost impossible to do what I knew I had to. I couldn't just let him stay the way he was because no matter how hard I wished it, he had no idea that in his sleep he had curled up against me. The possibilities that flashed through my mind of everything that could happen if he woke up in that position were enough to help me make my decision final.

With careful, slow movements and an ease that I just didn't use on a normal basis, I lifted him up, removed myself from the couch and set him back down slowly on the cushions. I was so cautious not to make any sudden movements or noises to wake him up, but that still didn't stop him from twisting around slightly and mumbling something under his breath. It might have been wishful thinking, but I swore I heard my name.

I stood there, right next to the couch for a few seconds, hoping and praying that he didn't wake up and catch me staring down at him like some kind of obsessed psycho. I could have easily moved away, but I was too entranced with watching him sleep. He looked so peaceful and just so damn beautiful in his slumber that I couldn't pry my eyes away.

It was a quick glance at the clock that finally got me moving and helped me come to the conclusion that I was going to have to wake the boy up soon, whether I liked it or not. That is, if he still wanted to go to work with me.

When I made it back down from Roxas' room after getting dressed, I noticed that he was sitting up on the couch. He was awake in the physical sense, but mentally he was still working through that fog that everyone goes through when they first wake up. It was kind of cute to see his hair all disheveled and his barely there expression as he tried to remember where he was and why some crazy redhead was in his kitchen.

We didn't say very much as I prepared my breakfast specialty; Frosted Flakes, or when we had to eat it hastily and practically run out the front door because I'd forgotten that Roxas' condo was farther from the bakery than my apartment was. It wasn't until we pulled into the parking lot that I opened my mouth to speak and broke the long-lasting but surprisingly not all that suffocating silence.

"I'm surprised we don't have any paparazzi trailing us," I said, turning off the engine and removing the keys. "They seem to always be around you guys."

"Yea, well…" Roxas unbuckled his seatbelt. "Don't get too excited. They'll find us eventually. They know where I live and everything, but we probably just evaded them for the moment because of this car." I narrowed my eyes playfully at his words because I just knew where he was going. He smiled softly, and it was the first cheerful expression I'd seen on his face all morning. "So I guess the fact that you own a shitty vehicle actually worked in our favor. Who knew this piece of junk would have some use other then to pollute the ozone layer. You learn something new everyday, huh?"

With that he gave me an innocent look, in which he batted his eyelashes and widened his eyes, and like a flash of lightening, he was gone. Leaving me to sit there halfway twisted in my seat and still held captive by the seatbelt I hadn't had time to remove.

Roxas had a way of leaving me stunned like no other. Sometimes because I couldn't get over his big blue eyes, which seemed to hold all the secrets of the world in them. Occasionally, because he'd say something so cryptic or mysterious that I couldn't quite figure out what he was really trying to imply. And at other times because he would do something that I thought was completely out of character. Not that his smartass comments were anything out of the ordinary, but it was the way he said them, like instead of trying to push me away he was trying to pull me closer.

The closer Roxas and I got, the more he seemed to open up to me. It made me feel like there was a whole other person inside of him that I didn't even know yet. And I loved that about him. He made everything seem brand new. I loved every single thing he did to me, every emotion that he made me feel. Even when he was trying to be annoying.

I laughed to myself and shook my head as I finally unbuckled myself and got out of the car. Roxas was leaning against the wall right next to the entrance. He knew he didn't have to worry about anyone spotting him because it was so early and the bakery wasn't even technically open yet.

I set the alarm on my car and strolled over the short blond. He was trying to act casual with his arms crossed and one of his legs bent so his foot could rest against the bricks, but I could tell that he wasn't quite done trying to get under my skin.

"I really don't think you need an alarm for that thing." I walked right past and grabbed the handle of the door. I looked over at him with a smirk, and he mirrored my expression "I mean, I don't think anyone's going to steal it. They probably wouldn't get very far even if they did."

I opened the door, and Roxas moved from his position to follow me. He stopped suddenly, though, and his teasing grin grew even bigger. I sent him a warning glance, like I was challenging him to say one more thing, and he took the dare.

"Cause you know it would probably break down as soon as they got it out on the stre—"

I entered the bakery and let the door swing shut behind me, effectively shutting out the blond and his attempts to annoy me. It took less than a second for the door to open once again and the bell to ring out from up above, signaling his entrance. I didn't even bother to turn around because I knew the boy would be pouting, and I was already on the verge of laughter.

I heard him shout out some sort of protest, but I had already taken that moment to look around the place and promptly noticed every pair of eyes in the room staring at Roxas and me. Marluxia was messing around with some rose stems as he stared at me, trying not to appear interested as he always did, but I knew better than that. I could see the enjoyment written across his face as his eyes moved back and forth between me and the boy at my side.

Demyx's stare was more one of surprise that I'd actually brought Roxas with me knowing the kinds of people we worked with. He was the least of my troubles.

I hesitated to turn my head and look at the girl that I knew would be getting the biggest thrill out of what was before her eyes. I slowly met her gaze, and it was just as vicious and frightening as I predicted. The scariest movie in the history of scary movies had nothing on Larxene. She was horror personified. I knew from the malicious gleam in her eyes that she wasn't going to let the opportunity I'd all but dropped into her lap pass by, and there was nothing I was going to be able to do to stop her.

Roxas had immediately stopped talking as soon as he realized how quiet everything was inside. I'm sure he understood perfectly that we were being scrutinized very closely in that moment. Larxene was probably reading into every small movement we made, every blink of the eye or twitch of the finger. She was definitely going to know something was going on between Roxas and me. Even if that something was just a growing friendship, she would twist it into something more her liking.

I made a point to not even glance at the boy, trying and hide anything that Larxene might pick up on, but I got the feeling that my lack of reaction was what tipped her off even more. I should have known better considering Demyx did the exact same thing, and it made it easy as pie for me to notice his true feelings for Zexion. Apparently, I was too stupid to realize I was practically mimicking him.

Just when I thought the stillness was going to reach down and strangle me, Larxene spoke up, and as soon as she did I almost wished for that death by silence. "So, you brought your boyfriend to work today?"

I didn't even have to see him to know that Roxas had visibly tensed. The expression on the girls face and the feral grin that formed on her lips proved that she'd gotten the reaction she wanted.

Roxas was probably wishing he'd never decided to come with me in the first place. Can't say I didn't warn him. Ok, technically I made no mention of working with a psychotic she-devil who probably enjoyed setting things on fire just to watch them burn, or performing satanic rituals at night before she laid down in her coffin at night to sleep and dream of all things wrong and evil. In my defense, though, the night before had been such a mixture of crazy and amazing that all thoughts of Larxene, work and normal life had pretty much evaporated.

It was just when I thought I was going to have nothing to say that I heard my boss' annoying little snicker, and it brought back all of my fight. I looked from the pink-haired man to the girl several times before I finally settled my gaze back on Larxene for good. She was sneering at me, but I was no longer intimidated.

"But what about you?" I asked. She looked at me like I was speaking a foreign tongue. I stepped forward and rested my hand on the back of a random chair. "You have your mantoy here everyday, and no one ever says anything about that."

Marluxia started laughing again while Larxene scoffed and raised her eyebrows at me. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"He's saying that we know about you and Marluxia doing the nasty,\ and that that's the real reason he puts up with you working here." Demyx had gone back to making some sort of desserts, and he didn't even bother to look up or crack a smile as he spoke.

I noticed my boss' chuckles abruptly come to a halt, like my co-workers statement had somehow stolen his ability to make any noise. Larxene, in a way completely unlike herself, closed her mouth immediately and turned a shade of white that could rival the purest snow. The two looked at each other, and I could see in their gazes that they knew they were defeated. Not only defeated but caught red-handed.

"Certainly you guys didn't think we were so stupid that we wouldn't even notice?" I asked, an ever growing and triumphant smile on my face.

Larxene cleared her throat and turned around swiftly to return to her place behind the register. She picked up a random magazine, and I could tell she was just pretending to look through it. Seeing her rattled like that was a thing of beauty. I might have been able to appreciate it more if my mind didn't instantly revert back to thoughts of Roxas and the reason why I had to teach the girl a lesson in the first place.

Even though I'd retorted back at Larxene, I never once denied that Roxas was my boyfriend. I knew he technically wasn't and most likely never would be, but I just didn't want to say it out loud. If my evil co-worker hadn't been so stunned by the discovery that her secret wasn't really a secret after all, she surely would have picked up on that little detail. I figured, though, that she'd probably have some kind of delayed reaction. In a couple days I'd walk into work, and she would probably throw everything in my face. But at that moment, I got lucky.

The only problem was I didn't know how Roxas was feeling about everything. I'd definitely noticed that he didn't refute the girls' claims either. There were many logical explanations for why, like he was too intimidated by her, he didn't want to cause any problems, or he was just too busy watching everything play out. But in the back of my mind I'd convinced myself that he didn't deny it because he didn't want to, because maybe he wanted it to be true as much as I did. I evidently liked to set myself up for major disappointments.

"Nice to see you again, Roxas."

I only realized that I'd been standing there, lost in the depths of my thoughts, when I heard Marluxia's voice. I turned around to see the man moving gracefully over towards Roxas, almost exactly like he had the first time the boy entered the bakery a month and a half prior. He looked so ridiculous. Every step he took looked like it was part of some elegant dance, and if I wasn't imagining things, I saw Roxas' lips twitch upwards into a smile then fall back down again.

"Welcome to our humble little bakery." My boss greeted the boy with an over exaggerated bow then shook his hand. The whole thing was so ludicrous, and when Roxas peered over at me out the corner of his eyes like he was asking for help, I had to choke back my laughter.

"Uh…yea." I cleared my throat, trying to keep my amusement under control. "Roxas is gonna hang out with us for the day. He can just sit behind the counter with me and Demyx or something."

"Yes!" Demyx shouted, and as soon as I turned back around to look at him, he was already next to Roxas, grabbing onto his arm and pulling him away. "Finally I'll have someone to teach things to. Axel never cares or even bothers to listen."

I gave the shorter blond a look of sympathy as I allowed him to be hauled away by my co-worker to a doom that was sure to be filled with sugar, frosting and rainbow colored sprinkles.

* * *

"No, Roxas. Not like that." Demyx batted at the boys hands, sending the knife covered in frosting that Roxas was using across the table. The taller male sighed dramatically and massaged his temple.

The two were in the middle of a cupcake decorating session that had been fated for failure from the beginning. You see, my co-worker was really picky when it came to his food creations, and poor Roxas just couldn't keep up with him. Demyx had already stopped the younger blond three times earlier because he wasn't spreading the frosting up to his standards.

Roxas looked like he was on the verge of decking my co-worker. Demyx was innocent in his intentions, but he could really drive even the most tranquil of people up the wall. That's exactly the reason why I chose to never let him teach me the wonderful ways of dessert making, but that's not to say I wasn't enjoying watching the process.

Roxas in his pink fluffy apron with specks of frosting on his face and hands was probably one of the most endearing things I'd ever seen. I loved the way his face would scrunch up in disgust every time the older of the two would point out something he was doing wrong.

I was observing him very vigilantly because the whole thing was just a perfect picture. In fact, I actually did make sure to take a picture with my phone without anyone noticing. I figured I'd show it to the youngest Strife some time down the road and maybe even use it as a bargaining tool. Mostly, though, I just wanted it for myself so I could look back and always remember it.

"Decorating cupcakes is a form of art," Demyx explained as he waved a tube of icing around in the air. Roxas had to duck at least twice to avoid from being smacked in the face. "It's like painting a masterpiece. You can't just half-ass it and spread and slop the frosting on any old way. It has to come from your heart."

Roxas actually looked to be taking what my co-worker said seriously. Either that or he was really good at acting like he cared. Better him than me because I was already on the verge of cracking up over Demyx's ridiculousness. Although I had to admit that his dedication to his craft was admirable. As soon as he finished explaining, the short blond turned back around to the table suddenly, like inspiration had just rushed over him, and he set to work on his cupcake once again.

"I just have one question for you," Larxene spoke up for the first time in hours.

Demyx, always being one to give people the benefit of the doubt, faced her eagerly. He probably thought she was going to ask him for his expertise on cake baking or something. "What?" He asked cheerily. The excited look on his face kind of made me feel bad for him. I knew he was about to be shot down.

"Could you be any gayer?" The girl had obviously recovered from her earlier trauma because she was right back to her taunting ways. "Making cupcakes from the heart? I can't believe anyone I know believes that shit."

Even though her words were harsh, Demyx just sent an amiable smile her way. "See, this is why you sit behind a counter selling magazines and working the cash register while I'm responsible for not only satisfying people's hunger but also filling their hearts with joy."

I heard Larxene scoff and come back with probably yet another insult, but I completely tuned everything out in favor of watching Roxas, who had been completely silent throughout the whole exchange. His entire focus was laid upon that tiny, little dessert set out in front of him, and all his attention was dedicated to decorating it perfectly. I watched as his tongue peeked out of his mouth as he concentrated and his eyes seemed to be aglow with passion. It was cute to see him trying so hard to get everything correct and please Demyx. If my co-worker had actually been paying attention to the boy, he probably would have broken out into tears at the fact that someone was actually learning from him. So, in a way, it was probably a good thing that he was too focused on battling with Larxene.

I was too busy, off in a land created by my own imagination, where Roxas and I baked cookies and cupcakes everyday as rainbows stretched out above us, and the sun always smiled down and said hello, to notice that we had customers. Until it was too late, that is.

Apparently, everyone else had been too preoccupied as well because there was no warning, no notice of the forthcoming disaster. The bell chiming out from above the door didn't sound so cheery in that moment and instead rang out ominously, like a foreshadowing of what was to come.

The whole day we'd had a plan. As soon as a customer was spotted, Roxas would go hide in the back for a while and then reappear once they were gone. Despite Marluxia thinking it would be great for business if he had a famous person helping to serve his desserts, we knew the mass chaos it would inevitably cause would hardly be worth it, so that started the operation known as: Rescue Roxas. Demyx insisted that we give our mission a name, therefore, he came up with its title. It was just a lame way of saying that we would all be on the lookout for customers so that the youngest Strife had plenty of time to hide and, in turn, would save us all from mass hysteria.

But we'd failed, completely and utterly destroyed the plan. We let our guard down, and it only took one second to accomplish. I figured it was a matter of milliseconds before everything came crashing down, tumbling down like a castle made of building blocks that had been maliciously knocked over.

It was time for panicked and hasty actions, and there was no room for mistakes. Everyone else seemed to be frozen in place, so I did the first thing I could think of and sprung into action. Roxas had been facing away from the door so his back was already turned, but I jumped in front of him, anyway, to do my best to block him from view. It wasn't so difficult in the vertical sense but horizontally I was lacking, so I pulled Demyx over without even giving him a chance to understand what was happening. And then all that was left to do was hope and pray that things would work out.

I was only slightly relieved when I noticed that one of the customers was Yuffie, but the dread began to swim though my veins again when I laid eyes on blond hair and heard the menacing giggles that filled the room. The second girl was Rikku. I'd only talked to her once or twice since she started working at the Smoothie King, but according to Zexion she was the true definition of an airhead and quite possibly the devil hiding behind the guise of a skinny, blond, teenage girl.

I knew from my few short conversations with her that she was a fangirl beyond any fangirls I'd ever witnessed in the past. That's why the number one and most significant rule my best friend made me follow whenever I entered his place of work was to never speak of Roxas or Sora and the fact that we knew them. Any failure to comply with the rules would result in death by either my roommate or Rikku, whichever got to me first.

There would be no way the girl would ever let it go, and we'd be caught in her clutches forever. She'd probably latch onto us and drive us insane with her incoherent fangirl babbling, threatening to never leave us alone until we set her up on a date with Sora or something horrifying like that. She was worse than Yuffie, and that was saying something. So, needless to say, I knew things were looking very dismal when she walked through the door, and that we'd need nothing short of a miracle to get out of the situation alive.

I pressed my side up against Demyx to try and form a wall that would block Roxas from view as the two girls walked up to the counter. Rikku was two busy running her mouth a mile a minute to notice anything, but Yuffie was onto us in a second. She knew something was up. I could just tell.

"What the heck is going on here?" She narrowed her eyes at us and leaned forward onto the glass.

"Nothing at all." I laughed nervously, and I could tell that dark-haired girl was not convinced at all.

The girl at her side was completely clueless to everything. Ironically, if it hadn't have been for Yuffie being so damn perceptive and nosy, we probably could have gotten away with everything quite simply. Instead, she had to go and make it all a thousand times more difficult.

"Yea." Demyx's voice did this weird squeaking thing that usually happened when he was nervous, and I started to count down the seconds until disaster struck. "We're not hiding anything."

"I didn't ask if you were hiding anything…" Yuffie tilted her head to the side and studied the blond. "But you are, aren't you?"

I was busy trying to stare down the girl and hoping that she would grasp onto how dire the situation was and just shut her trap, but I still noticed a figure moving out of the corner of my eye.

"I think you're right." Larxene appeared right next to the other two. "They're definitely concealing something." She placed a fist under her chin and tried to give off the illusion that she had no clue what was going on. She was such a traitor. "Why are you lying to these poor girls like that? It's not very nice, you know. That's not how we're supposed to treat our customers."

"Larxene," Marluxia said her name calmly, and that was all it took for the blond girl to back off and slink back to her corner. I guess, despite being vomit inducing, having sex with Larxene had its advantages.

My boss cut in a little too late, though, because if Yuffie hadn't already been completely convinced that something was awry, Larxene's little stunt certainly confirmed her suspicions. The girl was staring right at Demyx and me. I got the sinking feeling that she could almost see right through us, and I knew for sure she wasn't about to give up until she got an answer about what was going on.

"So what can we get you girls?" I asked, trying to sound as ordinary as possible but failing horribly. The fake smile I'd plastered on my face was probably doing more harm than good.

"Hmm…" Yuffie tapped a finger against her chin and looked up to the ceiling like she was contemplating over her answer. She glanced over at the blond girl to her side before turning back to face us. "We'll have whatever it is you're hiding behind your backs."

I knew it wouldn't take long for her to figure out what was going on, but that didn't stop her words from shocking me slightly. I would never know how Yuffie managed to catch onto things so easily, but there was one flaw in her skill. She didn't know just exactly who we were hiding. If she had, she wouldn't have been so eager for us to reveal the secret.

"Cake, you say?" I pretended to not even hear what she said. "Of course you can have some."

"Ok, yea, that's what we want."

It was almost too easy, and I knew she was up to something. The only problem was I had no idea what that something was. She looked over at Demyx innocently and pointed to the cake that she wanted through the glass. My co-worker nodded nervously, put on his plastic gloves and opened the back of the counter so he could reach in and retrieve the dessert.

The two girls were standing on the tips of their toes and glancing at each other far too many times to be normal. Their smiles were almost identical as they focused their attention on Demyx, and it was at that last second that I finally caught onto precisely what Yuffie had cooked up in that devious little mind of hers.

Before I had the chance to do anything, Demyx bent down to retrieve the girls' orders, and in doing so, broke down the wall we'd been trying to imitate. That revealed Roxas, at least partly, because I was still standing in place. I spun around quickly to make sure that he hadn't turned around because if he was still facing the opposite direction we had at least a small chance of still getting away with everything.

I let out a breath of relief that I didn't even know I was holding in when I noticed that the boy was still standing exactly as he had been earlier. I didn't have any time to study his body language very closely, but I was sure he knew the situation we were in. We were lucky that Roxas was as smart as he was.

I swung back around in time to see Yuffie's expression of triumph transform into one of panic. She froze in place, eyes widened and lips parted, allowing a tiny gasp to escape as realization settled in.

Rikku's eyes lit up as soon as she discovered what we were hiding, but I don't think she knew who it was. That was mostly thanks to my dear friend Yuffie. The older girl grabbed a hold of the blond's wrist, swung her around and started forcefully dragging her towards the exit. It hadn't been two minutes prior that I was cursing Yuffie in my mind for her uncanny ability solve problems and discover secrets, and there I was thanking the stars above for that exact thing.

If the ninja-like girl hadn't been so quick to act, there was no doubt in my mind that Rikku would have figured out it was Roxas behind the counter in a matter of seconds. I'm pretty sure the blond could pick any of the Strifes or their friends out of a crowd of thousands by just seeing their feet or something equally as bizarre. If there's one thing I learned, it's to never underestimate the power and knowledge of a fangirl.

Luckily, Yuffie possessed quicker reflexes than that of a rabid, obsessed, teenage fangirl. "C'mon Rikku." She flung the girl forward when she refused to move. "I'm not hungry for anything sweet anymore."

The blond looked as confused as ever. "But—" She was given no time to answer or protest as Yuffie opened the door and practically threw the poor girl out on her ass.

She lingered in the doorway for a few seconds as Rikku composed herself outside. "First of all, you guys are dumb." Then she smiled and pointed at me. "And you owe me a piece of cake."

With that said, she was out the door. Through the glass I could see her trying to console Rikku. The blond girl looked a bit put off after the physical force that Yuffie used, but such were the consequences of befriending Yuffie, and I knew she'd get used to it in time.

Eventually, the two of them walked away. Once they were out of sight, I just lost it. I knew all of my co-workers and Roxas were looking at me like I was some kind of an idiot, and maybe I was, but I just couldn't get over how crazy everything had been and how dramatic I'd made it all out to be in my head. By the way I was acting you would have thought I was about to die at any minute, and it was so unlike me.

It's a good thing that laughter and smiles are contagious because before they got the chance to tell me how crazy I was being, everyone else joined in and started laughing with me. It wasn't the hysterical, rambunctious kind of laughter that usually follows a really good joke or a hilarious story. It was the kind of lighthearted chuckles that you shared with friends over an inside joke that no one else knew about. Even Larxene was fighting back the mirth that kept threatening to show itself on her face.

I felt like we were all experiencing a moment that would never happen again. Certainly, there were never be another time where every single one of my co-workers and I shared a mutual laugh at something so random. The whole day was definitely something I would always remember because of its random crazyness, and it was made all the more special because Roxas was there to share it with me. Somehow, he made routine things like being stuck at work for hours on end seem worthwhile, and I was beginning to wonder how I ever made it through a day without him.

* * *

"Can you skate?"

I stopped tapping my fingers on the steering wheel as soon as Roxas spoke up. We had been sitting at what I liked to call the seven minute traffic light because that's how long I sat at it once before. True story. "Huh?"

"You heard me," The boy said as he messed around with the small bag in his hand.

"Uh, yea. I guess I can." Roxas had only informed me after we pulled out of the bakery parking lot that we were meeting his friends at a skating rink. I didn't even think the things were popular anymore. The last time I'd actually been to one was when I was in the 9th grade. "I mean, I haven't been on skates in years, but that's probably like something you never forget, right?"

A chorus of horns and the angry shouts of people ready to get home after a long, hard day at work made up the background noise to our little conversation, but Roxas' laughter somehow canceled out all the outside racket. "Sure." He chanced a glance at me and then looked back down at his hands. "I guess that means I'll have to make sure you don't fall too hard." Almost as soon as he stopped talking he started again. "Much. I meant to say fall too much."

I noticed his little slip of the tongue immediately but tried to keep the conversation going as normally as possible despite my heart being in my throat. "I thought you weren't going to teach me anything anymore?"

"I'm not really going to be teaching you. I'll just be sort of…guiding you, I guess."

"Guiding me?" I laughed and pressed my back against the seat. "You make it sound like I'm blind or something."

"Well, you kinda are."

The way he said it without any humor in his voice caused me to look over at him. He had his eyes glued to that white paper bag in his hands. "What do you mean by that?" I was genuinely curious.

"Nothing." He finally looked up and attempted to offer me a reassuring smile, but I wasn't convinced. Just when I thought he wasn't going to say anymore and we were going to go back to sitting in silence again, he took a deep breath, looked at the bag one last time, and then handed it out for me to take. He shook it a little when I didn't bother to grab it. "Aren't you going to take it?"

I cautiously reached out for the bag, like I was scared that at any moment it would suddenly come to life and bite my hand off. Roxas broke our eye contact and faced the window as soon as the thing was completely in my possession. I opened it slowly and there, in all of its sugary sweet glory, was the cupcake that he had worked so hard on. It was covered in red frosting that was spread around perfectly, even by Demyx's standards, and covered in a multitude of different colored sprinkles.

"Your cupcake?" I asked. He turned away from the window and met my questioning gaze once again. I thought I saw a flash of uncertainty in those perfect blue eyes. "I don't…I mean, why are you giving it to me?"

He took in a slow, steady breath. "Demyx said that you're supposed to make cupcakes from the heart and they're supposed to fill other people up with joy, right?"

I waited for him to elaborate on that thought, but he never did. And by the time I worked up the courage to ask what he meant, the light had changed to green, the traffic was moving, and I had to focus on driving. So the whole way to the skating rink, which literally took like two minutes considering we were a block away, I was left to wonder and drown myself in my own thoughts.

When we pulled into the parking lot of the skating rink and almost as soon as we got out of the car, we were bombarded by the paparazzi that Roxas had assured me would show up sooner or later. I had no idea how they managed to find him. It was really creepy how they popped up out of literally nowhere. They must have had some kind of built in radar behind their eyes.

Making it through the crowd of people and flashing lights, let alone just stepping out of the car, was a difficult process. Unlike my last encounter, I was smack dab in the middle of all the disorder.

"Roxas, What are you doing here?" Some fat, sweaty man asked as if it wasn't completely obvious what he would be doing at a skating rink. They would say anything to try and get the blond to talk to them.

Roxas ignored the questions and camera flashes like a pro and kept moving forward. I did my best to keep up with him, practically stepping on his heels by trying to keep us so close.

"Roxas, who's your new friend?"

It was that question that got to my head and stopped me dead in my tracks. I don't know why I assumed that just because I was a nobody I would be completely ignored, like I could hang around Roxas and his friends all the time, and no one would ever even bother to take notice of me. Apparently, that wasn't the case, and it sort of scared me to think of what I was getting myself into.

"What are you stopping for?" I barely heard Roxas' voice over the noise as he grabbed my wrist and forced me to start moving through the mass of bodies again. His actions caused a rush of excitement, and the cameras started flashing like crazy. The excited voices rang out even more deafening than before, each one louder than the other and all sounding out at the exact same time, making it almost impossible to hear any individual question.

Just when I thought the path that we were taking was a dead end, and instead of actually making it inside the building we were just walking around in a circle, I felt the warm air escaping out into the frigid night as Roxas swung the door open, and with one last forceful tug, brought us both into the safe confines of the skating rink.

"We need to rent our skates," Roxas informed simply, like we'd just been taking a peaceful walk in the park.

Maybe he was used to the kind of situation that we'd just escaped from, but I certainly wasn't. I was going to need a few seconds to catch my breath. I could only let a small grunt out as a reply while I bent over slightly and rested my hands on my knees. That seemed to satisfy the blond because he turned on his heels without another word and walked away.

The first thing I noticed when I finally pulled myself together was that, besides the parents, I was probably the oldest person there. There were tons of smaller children running around and screaming their heads off while they ate buckets full of cotton candy and tried to grasp onto the process of gliding across the floor on wheels.

There were some older kids spread out randomly around the place too. Some of them were out in the middle of the floor skating away to the upbeat and lighthearted melodies that were blaring out of the speakers, but the majority of them seemed to be hanging around on the sidelines, sitting at tables in front of the food stand or playing the arcade games that were set out on the side. They were at the age where everything was uncool, and they all followed the same mindless sheep mentality. I had a hard time believing I'd ever been like that.

Ever since Roxas walked in, he seemed to garner a lot of attention, especially with the girls. The skating rink was like fangirl central. I amused myself with the thought that it was probably where they held their weekly stalker meetings. To have someone of Roxas Strife's caliber walk through the very doors of their hangout was probably causing their little hearts to overflow with bliss.

When I finally found my bearings and was able to remove myself from the spot in the middle of the floor that I'd been glued to, I noticed that a group of girls had already formed a barrier around the youngest Strife. I could tell he was trying to act like he didn't mind them being around as he signed a few autographs and posed for a couple pictures.

Just as I walked over, the guy behind the rental counter set a pair of skates on the surface and cleared his throat to get attention. Roxas turned away from his adoring public for a moment and nodded a thanks to the guy. "I really need to go now, but it was a pleasure meeting you girls."

He gave the girls his most dazzling smile, and they all let out identical sighs and did this weirdly synchronized move where they raised their hands up to their chests, like they were trying to calm their rapidly beating hearts. Usually, I would have been annoyed by such outlandish antics, but seeing how much they adored Roxas and how he was trying so hard to keep that smile on his face just made me laugh. Not only that, but the girls' obvious lust for the boy kind of reminded me of myself. The fact that I was comparing myself to rabid fangirls was a clear sign that somewhere in the process of becoming friends with Roxas I'd lost the sanity I'd once prided myself on.

For a few seconds there, the girls didn't move, but after they realized that the interaction between them and the blond was officially over, and he wasn't about to make all their dreams come true by inviting them to join him and eventually fall in love with one lucky girl, they started to leave. The supposed ringleader stopped the group of teens and bent forward to whisper something in secret to her followers. I looked on curiously as they all turned around and, like they were one entity, shouted out, "We love you, Roxas."

Roxas turned around quickly after he handed over the money to pay for the skates, and I could see the blush rising on his cheeks. It was adorable to see him so flustered. The guy behind the register rolled his eyes and slammed the register shut before he disappeared to the back. I could feel the jealousy radiating off of him all the way over where I was standing.

The unit of fangirls all formed heart symbols with their hands in Roxas's direction and broke out into fits of nervous giggles before taking off and fading into the crowds of people.

As soon as they were completely gone, the short blond let out a sigh of relief and turned back around to face the counter. "He went back to find some skates in your size."

"Oh, ok." I said, then I realized something off about what he'd just told me. "Wait, how did you know what size I wear?"

Roxas started to roll his skates back and forth across the counter as if he were a little boy pushing a toy car around. "Uh…yea." He focused his eyes on the spinning, yellow wheels as they ran over the smooth surface. "I kinda looked at your shoes to find out…"

"That's…" I tried to force myself to say something nice, but I just couldn't. "…weird. Like really weird. Who goes around secretly looking at other people's shoes? Maybe you have a shoe fetish?" I pretended like I was pondering to myself. Roxas halted the motion of his skates, grabbed them and finally spun around to meet my gaze. I could see the beginnings of a scowl forming on his face, but that didn't stop me. "Or maybe you have a foot fetish? That sounds more likely, don't you think?"

"Freak." Roxas swung one of his skates forward by the laces, and I swear it almost took my head off.

My panicked actions made the boy laugh, and I fixed him with a playful stare. "Says the guy with the foot fetish."

He opened his mouth like he was going to retort back, and I was waiting with bated breath for his reply. The times that Roxas and I spent teasing each other were like a natural high, and I was always waiting for my next hit. But it was at that moment that someone decided to cut off my supply.

"Roxas!"

At first I thought the feminine voice that had shouted out was that of yet another crazed fan, but when I turned to my left I saw that it was a very familiar female who I had seen once before. She was standing up from her seat at a table and waving in our direction. Right next to her, on either side, were the other two boys that I'd seen on the fateful day that someone decided to smile down upon me and bring a vertically challenged and slightly anti-social boy into my life.

At the sound of the voice and the sight of his friends, Roxas had apparently forgotten all about me and was running across the room in an instant. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel at least a little bit jealous that all it took was something as simple as the girl calling out his name to make him leave me behind in his dust without a second thought or even a glance back.

I watched for a few seconds as Roxas greeted his friends warmly with hugs and handshakes. Despite feeling a little like yesterday's garbage, I couldn't help the warm feeling that came over me when I saw how genuinely happy he was to see his companions. Seeing Roxas in high spirits was enough to make me forget about my shameful selfishness.

The slamming of a pair of skates against the counter was enough to jar me out of my thoughts and possibly send me to the beginning stages of a heart attack. The noise was so loud in my ears that I seriously thought I was going to die, and I swear I almost saw my life flash before my eyes.

I turned around sharply and gave the pimply faced brat working behind the counter the angriest look I could muster, which was quite difficult considering my heart was still pounding in my chest and I was still coming out of my shock.

"Take your skates and move," The boy said, without even acknowledging my presence. "There are other customers I need to get to, and you're wasting everyone's time."

I didn't even have to look behind me to know that there wasn't any line, and even if there had been people behind me, I doubted they would be chomping at the bit to get a chance to deal with that little jerk.

I grabbed my skates vehemently off the counter and opened my mouth to say something when the boy raised his head and peered at me over his glasses, and I realized he was just that; a boy. I wasn't about to start an argument with some little toddler, and I definitely didn't want to cause a scene and ruin Roxas' night, so even when the idiot sneered at me, I kept my cool, turned my nose up at him and walked away without a word.

All the way over to the table where Roxas and his friends were sitting, I couldn't take my mind off of the little incident. It annoyed me when someone who was obviously not a people person took a job that was made to deal with people. Even if you're not very sociable the least you can do is act like dealing with customers isn't that much of a burden. If Larxene could do it, then I was convinced that anyone could.

"Who are you?"

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't even realize I'd already arrived at the table. Three curious pairs of eyes stared up at me, waiting to hear my answer. I glanced over at Roxas, who was busy putting his skates on. He looked over at me and smirked before going back to tying the laces. It was obvious that he was going to leave me to my own devices. "Axel," I finally answered.

"You work at that bakery, right?" The pudgy brunette reached out and grabbed my hand. He shook it fervently, and I could tell right away that he was friendly. "I'm Pence."

"And I'm Olette," The girl spoke up. She smiled at me from across the table where she was sitting next to Roxas. I gave her a silly sort of wave and felt immediately stupid after doing so.

I had to admit I was kind of nervous meeting Roxas' friends, which was weird for me. I usually didn't care what people thought about me, but I wanted them to like me because they were a part of the boy's life, and I wanted to be part of it too.

The girl nudged the wavy-haired, blond boy, who was sitting next to her, after a few seconds of silence. "I'm Hayner," The boy informed, hardly even sparing a glimpse in my direction. He crossed his arms over his chest and averted his gaze. It didn't take much to figure out that the kid was cold and callous and obviously didn't like me for some reason. A reason that I could just not figure out. I hadn't even said anything other than my name.

"Roxas has told us a lot about you," Pence said as he offered me a seat on the bench next to him.

Roxas immediately lifted his head up again and removed his foot from the bench when he was done fixing his skate. "I have not," he protested. I raised an eyebrow and smirked at him.

"Dude!" Pence pointed at his friend and laughed. "You totally have. I mean, I feel like I know Axel better than I know you."

Roxas started coughing and looked increasingly nervous as he began to tie on his other skate. I determined that I liked Pence a lot. He was giving out some pretty interesting information that I could definitely use in the future.

"Cut it out, Pence." Hayner noisily propped his skate-clad feet up on top of the table. "You're making it sound like Roxas is gay for this dude or something."

A hush fell over our little table, and I couldn't quite tell if it was all in my head or not. Then Olette suddenly rose to her feet and grabbed onto Roxas' arm that he no longer needed after his skates were secured. "C'mon, Roxas. Lets go skate!" She tugged him into a standing a position and then turned around to face us. "We'll meet you guys out there, kay?"

And with that, she dragged away the only source of familiarity and comfort I had left in a world full of skates, best friends and awkwardness. I kind of felt like I was being left out in the middle of the ocean to drown. It was only the kind smile on Pence's face that saved me and brought me back to salvation.

"So…uh…" I tried to think of something to say. "Do you guys come here a lot?"

I saw Hayner roll his eyes. He was still sitting just on the other side of the table with his arms firmly set across his chest. I didn't know why he hadn't left with the other two when they went off to skate. It was like he wanted to sit there and judge me some more, and I shifted in my seat uncomfortably.

"Yea," Pence said. I noticed him glance at Hayner then look back at me as if he were apologizing for his friend's actions. "We've been coming here for years. It's kind of like a tradition, I guess you could say." Despite the awkward atmosphere that was mostly caused by a certain blond kid who seemed to have a stick up his ass, Pence seemed like he was trying his best to make conversation. "So, uh, we heard you went with Roxas and his family to their cabin in Gagazet a couple weeks ago. It's awesome there, isn't it?"

Memories of that trip filtered into my mind, and it made me smile. That trip was the definite turning point in my relationship with Roxas. As amazing as it was, though, I couldn't help but remember the bad parts of it too. "Yea, it is. Except at the end of the trip we ran into this Tidus kid." I said it innocently, like I had no clue who he was, but really I was trying to get some information.

"Tidus?" I caught Hayner's attention as he removed his feet from the table and straightened up. He looked at me eagerly, like he was waiting for me to continue.

I turned back around to Pence to see that the smile had been wiped off of his face, and his once affable expression had transformed into one of concern. "Roxas didn't tell us about that."

"What happened?" Hayner's voice was sharp as he practically demanded that I spill everything. It was weird how my plan had sort of backfired and I was the one who was giving out the information instead of the other way around. Not only that, but I'd just inadvertently revealed something that Roxas himself hadn't even divulged to his friends. "Well?" The blond slapped his hands on the table, and I jumped.

"Uh, I don't know." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "They just kinda got in a fight."

"Like a fist fight?" It was like Hayner forgot all about his dislike for me in favor of getting answers.

"Yea…"

"How come Roxas didn't tell us about this?" Pence seemed kind of disappointed as he mused to himself.

Hayner huffed to himself and fell back in his chair. It was silent for a few seconds as the two boys looked to be off in their own thoughts, and even though I knew it probably wasn't the right moment, I asked what I'd wanted to all along, anyway. "Who is Tidus?"

Pence looked up at me like he'd forgotten I'd even been sitting there. "Uh…he's…" He was struggling to get the words out of his mouth, and it was such a transition from his earlier cheerful self. "He used to be friends with Roxas. And us, too, until—"

"Damn, Pence." Hayner stood to his feet as he interrupted the brunette. "You just don't know when to keep your mouth shut, do you?" His eyes scanned the area until he found what he was looking for. "I'll be right back, and don't say anything else," He warned before taking off.

Pence looked down at the table, and I immediately felt bad for bringing up the subject in the first place. "Sorry." I offered my apology even though I knew couldn't take back all I'd unintentionally started.

The boy gave me a small, yet reassuring smile, and though it wasn't much, I felt content that at least he didn't hate me. After that, though, we just sort of sat there in complete silence. The children's screams and the music playing loudly were my only sources of company. It's weird to sit right next to someone and feel like you're completely alone.

Just when I was thinking about excusing myself and going off to find Roxas, I noticed him, Olette,and Hayner emerge from the crowd out on the skating floor and head in the direction of the table. At first, I was relieved to see that familiar head of blond hair, but once he got closer and I saw how upset he looked and the way he was glaring at me, I kinda wished I had the ability to make myself invisible.

"What do you think you're doing?" Roxas said before he even reached the table completely.

I felt like I was going to melt under his stare, so I looked away. My eyes just happened to land on Hayner, who was standing right next to his friend with a proud smirk on his face. I decided right then and there that the boy was a bastard. I chanced a glance back at Roxas. His expression hadn't faltered, and his eyes were still burning into me. I was seriously going to beat the crap out of Hayner if he'd ruined anything between the shorter blond and me.

"What are you talking about?" I could tell my feigned innocence wasn't doing me any good.

"What are you doing, trying to get information out of my friends like that?"

I noticed Olette place a hand on Roxas' back to calm him as she looked over at me sympathetically. At least two out of three of the youngest Strife's friends weren't complete assholes.

Roxas continued to stare at me, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find any words to say. What excuse did I really have? I was just too curious about Roxas for my own good and too much of a wimp to ask him certain things personally. I opened my mouth and then closed it immediately. I repeated that process several times to the point where I probably looked like a fish out of water, gasping for air. To be honest, I sort of felt like one.

"I'm done with this shit." Roxas threw his hands up in the air, but before he turned away I thought I saw a flash of hurt in his eyes, and I felt like I'd just been stabbed in the heart. When he and his two friends skated away, I felt like I was just being left there to bleed out slowly until, eventually, I got what didn't seem like such a bad idea at the time; death.

* * *

I didn't do any skating that night. I spent all of my time sitting on the sidelines with Pence. He proved his compassion by insisting that he stay with me instead of going and joining his friends, and I appreciated that more than I could express. Had I been left alone, I probably would have worked myself into a sever depression. By the end of the night I would have been some lifeless lump of misery. They could just drag me out to the dumpster out back and leave me with the rest of the trash. Ok, obviously that's an exaggeration, but the point is, without Pence's kindness I would have been pretty damn miserable.

He helped to keep my mind off of everything as we played at least twelve games of Pacman with each other, ate our fair share of cotton candy and laughed at all the fangirls we happened to come across. Surprisingly, even though Roxas was the only sure thing we knew we had in common, our conversations never landed on him.

I learned that besides being one of the nicest people I'd ever met, Pence was also one of the smartest. He was going to school to get his degree in computer science. And even though he was completely modest about his abilities, I couldn't help but feeling like a total loser and completely unworthy to even be standing in his presence. He did offer to fix my computer for free, though, if I ever needed it, and just like that my spirits were lifted again. It didn't take much to distract me, apparently. Just offer me something for free, and I was back to myself.

It was nine o'clock when Roxas and the others finally caught up with Pence and me, which wasn't much different from being alone with Pence because I was almost completely ignored by the other three.

Not too long after that, we were all at the front door saying our goodbyes. Pence gave me a sort of one armed hug that was quite awkward considering our height difference, and Olette offered me a polite smile and wave over her shoulder. Hayner disregarded me completely, and I didn't expect any different.

Over the course of the night I just sort of came to assume that since Roxas seemed considerably pissed at me he would get a ride from his friends, and I would just head on home despite my things still being at the boy's house. It wasn't until the blond stood there next to me and watched his friends leave through the exit that I realized I'd been wrong in my assumptions.

Roxas just stood in the entrance silently for a few minutes, and I stayed a few feet behind him, not wanting to get too close and make anything worse than it already was. Eventually, he started moving forward without a word, and I followed. I didn't have any clue why we had waited so long to leave after his friends already made their exit until the door opened and we were once again greeted by the paparazzi in all their annoying splendor. That's when I knew that Roxas had let his friends get far enough ahead so they wouldn't get caught in the middle of it all.

Getting through the crowd of cameras and pressing questions was just as difficult as the first time, and it didn't help that on top of it all, Roxas and I apparently weren't on speaking terms. We finally made it to my car, and once we were safely inside, I felt at least a little better.

It wasn't until I was pulling out of the parking lot and the lights had stopped flashing in my eyes that I noticed the small white bag that held Roxas' cupcake, sitting on the dashboard. Just the sight of it made my stomach sink.

I glanced over at the blond as I put on the turn signal. He was sitting with his arms crossed, staring out the window. It was like every time we were in a car together we went through the same process; me being unable to think of anything to say, Roxas completely silent and focusing all of his attention on that stupid window.

When we made it out on the road, I picked the bag up from the dashboard and handed it over to the boy. "Here." He just looked at it out of the corner of his eye but didn't even bother to take it. "You want it back don't you?"

"I'm not an Indian giver," he said and I didn't miss the touch of disbelief in his voice. "You really think I'm going to take something back that I gave to you, that I _made_ for you."

I was so caught up in the events of the night and the fact that things between Roxas and I had taken a turn for the worse in the blink of an eye that I didn't even bother to really take in his words. I heard them, but I didn't really think about them. If I had, the fact that he said he made the cupcake specifically for me would have meant so much more. "Well, you hate me now, don't you?" I set the bag in the middle of our two seats and put both my hands back on the wheel.

I heard him shift in his seat. "I don't hate you. I just…" He sighed before speaking again. "I just wish you would have asked me instead of sneaking around behind my back to get information out of my friends."

When he worded it like that, it sounded a lot worse than I'd thought it was. "It's not like I can ask you about it."

"How would you know?" He sounded so discontented, making me feel even worse. "You've never even tired."

He was right. I'd always just assumed that he would react badly to any questions I asked, like he did when I first met him. I guess I failed to realize that we'd grown closer and even become friends, and friends were supposed to be able to confide in one another and be able to ask questions. I hadn't even given him the benefit of the doubt, and I felt lower than dirt. "You're right, and I'm sorry." I focused my attention on the turn I was making. I was glad that I had something to keep myself occupied because if we had just been sitting there talking like that, I would have been beyond nervous. "I should have asked you."

"Yea."

We fell back into silence again for a few minutes, and I expected the conversation to be over. Certainly, after all I'd done, even though I'd apologized, it wasn't going to be that easy for Roxas to let things go. I figured that I deserved his cold shoulder for being such an asshole.

A light rain started to fall as we continued our way home, and it just seemed to fit the whole night. I'd taken one of the side streets to get back to Roxas' condo because there was less traffic and it was a lot more interesting, in my opinion. I liked to look at all the houses as I drove by and imagine what kind of lives the people inside led. Sometimes I would make up really elaborate stories of love, and friendship, and betrayal, and I would get so wound up in it that the drive home seemed to pass by in an instant. But I didn't get a chance to even begin to dream up any possible stories because Roxas chose that moment to start talking.

"Nine years ago…" His voice was so quiet, and it sounded like he hadn't spoken in years. He cleared his throat and began again. "Nine years ago when Cloud was sixteen, he wanted to go to this party that some people from his school were having on the weekend. Apparently, it was like the party of the year or something. He begged and begged my dad to let him take the car, so he could drive himself and his friends there. My dad was pretty strict back then, just like he is now, so, of course, he said no…at first." Roxas paused to laugh to himself lightly. "Cloud got Sora and I involved in it by making us drop hints to our father like: 'Dad, you know Cloud is going to be the only loser not going to that party on Saturday.' Or 'Don't you think Cloud is a really good driver?' We were only ten and eleven, so we just said whatever our brother told us to no matter how lame. But I guess somehow that got my dad to cave, and he allowed Cloud to take the car."

The rain started to fall a little harder, and the sounds of the drops hitting the rooftop got louder.

"To my ten year old self that party seemed like the coolest thing in the universe. Cloud looked like the happiest person in the whole world when he left that evening, but it didn't last." Roxas just kept on talking, and even though I had no idea what he was getting at, I never dared to stop him. When he spoke up again, his voice took on a darker quality that sent chills down my spine. "Cloud didn't make it home by curfew that night, and I remember my parents being so nervous because they didn't even care that Sora and I were awake way past our bedtime. I just remember running all around the house, practically bouncing off the walls and acting like it was the greatest thing in the world to be up so late. I was so young that I didn't notice my mother practically falling apart at the seams, and even when the phone rang at one o'clock in the morning and my father's face turned white as he answered it, I still didn't entirely understand the severity of what was going on."

He stopped talking for a moment, and even though I'd been getting exactly what I wanted, a clearer look into boy's life and all the mysteries of his past, I wasn't quite sure I wanted to anymore. I didn't know if I would be able to carry the burden of knowing about all of Roxas' past scars. I'd hardly even begun to deal with my own.

"It wasn't until my dad whispered something into my mom's ears and she let out a scream of agony that I'd never heard from her before and we were all ushered into the car that I realized something was going on." I thought I heard his voice waver a bit, but it was back to normal almost instantly. "When Cloud was driving home from the party, this van pulled out of nowhere and slammed right into the passenger's side of the car. My brother was hurt pretty badly. He had a concussion and multiple broken bones, and we found out from the doctor when we got to the hospital that he would be staying there for a while. My mom just kept crying and crying, and I didn't know what to do or how to feel."

I looked over at Roxas momentarily, but he was so caught up in his story that he didn't even notice. It was like he wasn't really in the car anymore and was reliving that moment again right in front of his very eyes.

"But Cloud wasn't the only one in that car. There were two girls in the backseat. One was Cloud's girlfriend at the time, Tifa, and the other was a girl named Aerith. They got banged up pretty bad, too, but they weren't as bad off a Cloud." He paused again, and I could tell that the story was pretty hard for him to tell.

"You don't have to—"

"No, I want to," he said then took a deep breath. "Cloud's best friend was in the passenger's seat that night, and he died instantly. They pronounced him dead at the scene. There was nothing they could do to bring him back." He said it more like he was trying to convince himself than trying to explain it to me. "It wasn't until Cloud finally woke up and was told about what happened that I realized just how serious everything in our lives had become. My brother…he just…he lost it. As soon as my dad told him that Zack died, he started screaming and crying and thrashing all around, trying to do something, anything to make what my father said untrue. Some nurses came in and took Sora and I out of the room almost immediately, but I'll never forget that moment."

The distress in his voice was clearly evident by then. "For months after that, things just weren't the same. Cloud became distant from everyone, his family, his friends. He even broke up with Tifa because he couldn't handle the guilt. He was always angry. He blamed the party for being thrown in the first place, he blamed my father for allowing him to use the car, but most of all, he blamed himself. He blamed himself everyday for Zack's death, and if anyone tried to tell him it wasn't his fault, he would just get mad."

The rain was pouring by that point, and it was like the sky knew exactly what was going on in my little car. The whole night just felt so unreal.

"He got mad all the time, but that didn't stop him from crying in his room every night." Roxas started up again after a prolonged silence. I got the feeling he stopped talking because he was trying to hold back the tears. "I know he did because I would sit outside of his door at night. I felt like maybe he would feel my presence there and realize that everything was going to be ok." He started to look out the window again instead of facing straight ahead. "My parents had Cloud start going to a therapist, and over time he got better. It didn't happen all at once, but I would notice the progression and the small steps in the right direction, like a tiny smile or a certain expression in his eyes. Then, before I knew it, it was like I had my brother back. Almost. He was never the same carefree teenager that he was before that accident, but he made it through, he stopped blaming himself, and he kept on living because that's what Zack would have wanted him to do."

I saw out of the corner of my eye that Roxas had turned to face me, and it was the first time he'd done so since he started his story. It made me feel kind of uneasy to be held under his gaze like that, especially after all he had told me.

"My brother is the strongest person I know. He rose above and survived when other weaker people would have crumbled." His voice hardened with the next words he spoke. "I met Tidus when I was thirteen. Two years before Sora's first movie came out. We met in school because we were in the same class and became fast friends. He fit right in with Pence, Olette and Hayner, and we called ourselves the four musketeers." He laughed dryly. "So, you know, I thought we were all friends. Olette and the guys had been there when everything happened with Cloud, so they knew all about it, and I figured since it was such a big thing that happened in my life, I would tell Tidus too."

At first, I had no idea why Roxas had made the sudden subject change from his brother to Tidus, but all at once it started to make sense. Just the thought was making me feel a little sick.

"Three years later, like a year after Sora became famous, the story of Cloud's accident got leaked out to the media, and I didn't even have to see which magazine it came from to know who leaked it out." He sounded so angry and sad at the same time. "Tidus' father was, and still is, the editor of this piece of trash gossip rag, which happened to be where the story first broke. And they didn't just tell the story; they twisted it all around and made everything seem like Cloud's fault."

Roxas' voice was rising, and I was on the verge of trying to calm him down before I decided not to. He obviously hadn't ever gotten things off his chest, and I wanted to let him finally feel free of whatever had been dragging him down.

"They made it seem like Cloud was some drunken, out of control teenager and a murderer. After all that he'd been through and everything he'd overcome, they not only brought back all the memories but all the blame along with it." He took a deep breath and clutched onto the side of his seat. "And in the process of getting his dad some fame at the price of my brother, Tidus had betrayed me. I thought he was my friend. I _trusted_ him, and he threw our friendship away like it was nothing."

It was all starting to become clear to me why Roxas had become so upset when I went behind his back and asked his friends questions I should have been asking him, why he overreacted when I was snooping around his parents house that one time, why it had been so hard for him to admit that he thought of me as a friend.

"I…I don't really know what to say." I decided to be completely honest as I pulled into Roxas' driveway and put the car in park. "I wish I did, but I just don't."

The boy silently unbuckled himself and picked up the bag containing his cupcake inside of it. He held it out to me for the second time that day, and I took it from him. "You don't have to say anything," he said as he opened the door and stepped out of the car. "You listened. You care, and that's all that matters."

He gave me one final smile before he shut the door, and, just like always, left me stunned.

* * *

**I don't even know if people still go to skating rinks but I used to go a lot when I was younger and I thought it was really fun. I'm showing my age here but the last time I went to one was 10 years ago when I was in the 7th grade for a perfect attendance party, or something like that. **

**Anyways, thank you guys for all the feedback and support. The reviews, views, favorites, everything. It means a lot to me. I'm having a lot of fun with this story and it's awesome that people enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Not only am I having fun but I've worked harder on this story than I have on anything else I've ever written. Is all my hard work paying off? Let me know!**

**Thanks for reading!**

**:)**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The first snow had already fallen; coloring all of Radiant Garden in white and making the whole place seem like some kind of winter wonderland. That was a complete contrast to the way I normally viewed my hometown. Somehow, the Christmas season just made everything seem better, happier. Even dull, over-populated and polluted cities.

The falling snow didn't keep Roxas from calling me at the early hour of ten o' clock in the morning. On a day when I didn't have work, anything before twelve was considered ungodly. And the snow covered ground didn't hinder him from practically dragging me to the Christmas tree lot to search for the perfect, or should I say imperfect, tree to bring back to his and Sora's condo.

Originally, the whole tree hunting event was supposed to be something that Roxas and his brother did together, but Sora was whisked away at the last minute to some random photo shoot, which left Roxas all on his own. And I'd come to learn that the youngest Strife just didn't do well when it came to being alone. That's where I came in. Not Cloud, not Kairi, Naminé, or even his best friends. Out of all the people he had to choose from, he once again picked me to share his time with.

The drive to the tree lot was pretty uneventful, as was the few seconds that it took us to walk from where I parked the car to the actual entrance of the place. But once we got there and passed under the huge sign that read 'Xaldin's Christmas Tree Emporium', that's when things started to become interesting. As interesting as looking at hundreds of trees that basically all resembled one another could get.

We were at that place forever. Roxas couldn't make up his mind on one simple tree, and every time I tried to suggest one that I thought was halfway decent, he shot me down. We weaved through the seemingly endless aisles that all eventually blurred together into a swirl of green. I'm pretty sure we passed the same exact trees fifteen times. At least, I think they were the same. Who could tell the difference, anyway? Even when the huge, brawny owner of the place, who obviously thought giant sideburns were a pleasant look, suggested some pretty darn good looking trees to the blond, he politely declined.

I started to get the feeling that nothing would be good enough for him and we'd wind up going home empty handed, having spent the whole day wasting time. But in the end, Roxas decided on this pathetic looking thing that seemed to be standing on its last leg of life. It was a pretty tall tree but was missing several branches, and the ones it still held onto weren't quite in the places they should have been and were a tad droopy. The needles appeared to be falling off at a pretty steady rate, and I had my doubts that the thing would last even a few days, let alone the last few weeks until Christmas. But Roxas had his mind made up, and when Roxas makes up his mind about something, he gets his way.

Xaldin tried to sell the tree to him at a lowered price because it was knocking on death's door and just so ugly to look at, but Roxas wouldn't have it. He insisted on paying the full amount, and the man didn't even have to think twice before accepting the offer. He was running a business, after all.

The whole amount of time it took to strap the thing to the top of my car and drive back to Roxas' house, the contented smile never left the boy's face. I didn't really understand why he was so excited over that pitiable tree, but I didn't bother to question it because as long as he was happy he could have chosen a twig in place of a tree for all I cared.

"This thing really is a sad sight," I said as I helped the blond lift the tree down from the top of the car. "I think Charlie Brown could have picked out a better one."

Roxas laughed as he held onto the bottom end of the thing and shoved it forward, which, in turn, pushed me backwards. "A Peanuts reference, Axel? Really? First, I discover your love for Disney movies and now this?"

Walking backwards and holding onto something while greatly trying not to destroy it was a hard enough process without having to think of something witty to say. "Uh…yea, that's me, lover of all things childish and immature." I tried to peer over my shoulder as I took another hesitant step backwards.

"Don't worry, I'll let you know if you're about to run into anything."

I turned back around and smirked at the blond. "You care that much about my well-being? How cute."

"Sorry to crush your dreams, but no." He shoved the tree forward lightly, forcing me to move again. "But you're carrying my tree, and I care about what happens to it, so by default I _have_ to worry about you."

"Why did you pick this one out anyways?" I watched as some more tiny green needles fell to the earth below. "There were plenty of trees there to choose from that would have been perfect."

"Exactly."

I looked at him curiously, but he just smiled back. We walked the rest of the way to the front door in silence. I was too preoccupied by the fact that the end of the tree I was holding felt particularly brittle and was trying to grab onto it as easily as possible. One wrong move, and I could have snapped it in half.

My mind was also working overtime trying to figure out Roxas' motives. The more I got to know him, the clearer the picture became, the easier it was to fit the puzzle pieces together. But I still didn't know everything, and the more I thought about it, I realized that I didn't want to know everything right away. I wanted to keep discovering new things about him, solving mysteries and overcoming challenges. He was the easily the most fascinating person I knew. With him, simple things felt exciting and brand new, and I wanted to go on learning about what made him tick forever.

Eventually, we managed to make it to the front door. All the while, keeping the tree in one piece, which was a challenge, to say the least. When Roxas finally got the door unlocked after fumbling to find his keys, we walked inside, and I immediately paused in the entryway.

Despite being the same place I'd stayed at about a week prior, it looked almost completely different. Sure, the layout of the condo was exactly the same. The kitchen that held fond memories of an out of control food fight was still to my left, and that gigantic, curtain-less window was still there standing tall and doing it's best to intimidate me, but the whole atmosphere of the place had changed drastically.

Lights in colors of white, green and red were everywhere, strung across the fireplace, around the windows, even wound around the railing of the stairs. Sparkling snowflakes hung from the ceiling and every available surface, like the end tables, windowsills and countertops held some sort of festive decoration. It was like walking into a storybook. It was every child's dream, and I felt the Christmas spirit taking over me.

"This is…wow," I said as I allowed my eyes to scan over the entire area once again.

"Yea, Sora tends to go overboard with the holidays and stuff." I wasn't the least bit surprised that the decorating was the brunette's doing. The thought of him scrambling all over the house with snowflakes in hand and light strings hanging around his neck made me chuckle. I felt the tree move under my hands and looked up to see Roxas pulling on it and staring at me with his eyebrows raised. "Well, are you going to help me set this up or not?"

"Oh, yea. Yea, of course." I had a hard time pulling my eyes away from a small plastic Christmas tree that was sitting in the entryway singing carols. Then Roxas cleared his throat, and I was back to earth again. "Uh…where do you want it?"

He pointed to a space in front of the gigantic window, and I noticed a tree stand was already set up. We dragged the tree over the last few feet, placed it in the stand and secured it in gently. After that, I was ready to take a seat on the couch for a well deserved break because carrying that fragile tree even a few feet felt like running a marathon. But Roxas had other plans.

"Do you want to help me, um, decorate it?"

I stopped mid stride and turned back around to face the blond, but he was already busying himself by searching through a cardboard box. "Decorate _your_ tree?" He looked up at me finally, his expression blank. "Don't you think Sora would want to be part of that?"

The corners of his mouth quirked upwards as he went back to digging through the box. "Did you even see the house?" he said. "I think Sora's decorated enough."

"Are you sure he won't mind?" I walked forward to try and get a look at what was inside of the box. I felt like I was going to be peering upon some big, magical secret, but all I could make out was a bunch of bubble wrap.

Roxas pulled out a small ornament and held it up in front of his face to admire. It was shiny, gold and shaped like a key. It sparkled in the early evening sun that was creeping in through the window. "I think you know Sora well enough to know that he wouldn't care." He set the small item down on the coffee table and turned his attention back to the box in front of him, yet again.

I was practically ignored as Roxas continued his search for whatever it was he was looking for. "So, uh, what should I do?" I leaned against the arm of the couch.

He barely raised his head to glance at me. "You can string the lights around the tree if you want. They're in that box over there." He pointed to yet another cardboard box that was sitting just to the other side of the couch, and I was left on my own as he started his search again.

I rounded the couch to where the box was. It was a little smaller than the one that Roxas was digging through, and on the side in writing that was more like chicken scratch, were the words: 'Christmas lights.' I knelt down and opened it up only to be greeted by a mass of knotted lights. I pulled out the wad of entangled wires and tiny colored bulbs, and I knew I was going to be spending more than a few minutes trying to untangle them. I think Chirstmas lights are just made to tangle and drive people insane because it seems like no matter what, when you open that box or decorations a year later, there they are, twisted and knotted like they'd never been pulled apart in the first place.

Roxas and I were silent the whole time that I was messing around with the lights, trying to straighten them out. That was probably a good thing, seeing as the blond had mysterious ways of distracting me. And even though I'd quite enjoy any distraction he provided me with, the minutes I had to spend unraveling wires would have turned into hours. He was still busy searching for something and had even moved on to another box that I assumed was full of more ornaments. I tried to glance at him to see if he'd made any progress every once in a while, but the lights in my hands that were obviously made of pure evil were taking up most of my concentration.

"I used to love Christmas, you know?" Roxas finally spoke up after the lengthy silence, and it felt so strange to hear a noise other than the rustling of bubble wrap and tissue paper and the short huffs of frustration I let out every time a particular knot just wouldn't come undone.

I finally freed the last two sets of lights from one another's clutches with one final tug and lifted my head up to look at the boy. He was staring down at another little key-shaped ornament, only it was silver in color. "Used to?"

He finally met my eyes for the first time in what felt like forever. "Yea. It's not the same anymore." He clutched onto that small key in his hand even tighter, and I noticed the slight sadness written across his face. "Like, Christmas used to be all about family and fun, and it was just so easy and normal. But now it's all about parties, appearances and everything being just right. It just lost all its magic."

"I don't think the magic is lost forever." I stood up from my seat on the carpet, and it felt good to stretch my legs after being cramped up on the floor doing manual labor for so long.

I noticed Roxas instantly turn his head to look at me as soon as the words came out of my mouth, but I made him wait for the rest of my response as I walked way over to the tree and studied it for a few seconds. I was trying to figure out which set of lights would look best. I came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter because anything I could do for the poor thing couldn't possibly make it look any worse. After all of my silence, I could tell the boy was growing impatient, so I decided to be nice and just finish my thoughts.

"Christmas didn't lose its magic, you did." Roxas opened his mouth to say something, but I didn't let him get a word in edgewise. He was going to hear me out whether he wanted to or not. "You just need to find it again."

The indignant expression on his face faded. "How can I do that?" He gazed up at me like I was holding all the answers to his problems, like a child would look to their parents when they needed to be told that everything was going to be ok, and it warmed my slightly frozen heart.

"I'll help you. We'll find it together." I smiled and held out the end of the lights for him to take. "We'll start by stringing these."

Roxas looked at me shiftily for a few seconds then released the small silver key from his grasp and reached out slowly to grab the lights. Once he had them firmly in his hand, I yanked on the wire a little, and he stumbled forward towards me with a gasp. I grabbed his free hand and steadied him just before he was about to lose his balance completely. Even after his feet were firmly planted on the floor and he was able to maintain his balance on his own, I didn't let go.

When he finally came to terms with what had happened, he looked up at me and our eyes locked. I just stood there, staring at him and clinging onto his hand like it was my only lifeline. I don't know what I was expecting to happen, but I was sure that something in his eyes told me that I wasn't the only one who was feeling that way.

Then, before I could wrap my mind around anything, I felt Roxas snatch his hand away and press it against my chest to push me away playfully. He focused his attention on the tree almost immediately after. "So, how is stringing lights supposed to help me find the magic of Christmas?" He threw his hands up and wiggled his fingers around as he said the last few words.

"It won't," I said honestly. "But it's a start."

We were standing side by side, clutching onto a string of colorful Christmas lights and staring down our opponent. An opponent that just happened to be an extremely weary looking fir tree. Roxas peered at me out of the corner of his eyes, a lighthearted smile positioned itself on his lips. I grinned back at him, and without saying another word, we moved forth into battle.

* * *

About an hour later, the tree had been strung with lights and adorned with the tons of ornaments that we found in four separate boxes. Roxas told me those were only half of the ornaments that his family usually had on their tree. When he and Sora moved out their mother gave them each a couple boxes of them. And the ornaments weren't just some little measly things either. They were all beautifully crafted and painted in shades of all different colors.

Each one that I pulled out was more glamorous than the last, and practically every single one of them had a story behind it or a memory attached that Roxas would tell me about as we hung them up. Like, there was one made of glass and shaped like a pickle that belonged to Sora because when his mother was pregnant with him she craved pickles constantly. And there was another, which resembled a seashell, that was bought during Roxas' first trip to the beach. They were all so fascinating to me, and the stories that accompanied them were even more captivating.

I didn't really want to admit it, but I was a bit jealous of the memories that Roxas had made with his family. I didn't have memories. Ok, so of course I had memories, everyone does, but I did my best to suppress them, and they certainly weren't the types that I could talk about freely in casual conversation.

"What did your family do for Christmas when you were little?" I felt like Roxas could almost read my mind as he searched for a place on the already crowded tree to set another small ornament. "Like, did you guys do anything special?"

I tried not to look uncomfortable as I pretended like I was checking the already empty box for anything that had been forgotten. "Uh…no, we didn't do anything." My voice sounded strange, even to me, but Roxas was too busy scanning his eyes over the tree to notice. "We didn't really do the whole Christmas thing."

The boys' eyes lit up when he reached out to the branch that he chose to place the small, shiny bauble on. "Everyone does Christmas."

Everyone but my family. My parents' idea of that particular holiday was throwing a small gift at me on Christmas morning. There were no trees, no decorations, no fancy meals and definitely no time spent together. Unless you counted my father sitting in the living room, knocking back a couple hundred beers while my mom stood in the doorway puffing on a cigarette and the arguing that would follow after, quality time.

The only time I really got to experience Christmas as a child was on TV when I would sit in front of the screen all day and watch holiday movie marathons or sometimes when I would walk around the neighborhood just to admire everyone's decorations. Despite never truly experiencing it myself, it was still my favorite holiday. Something about the way everyone seemed friendlier and the days just seemed brighter made my pitiful existence feel a little more worthwhile. Sometimes when the days seemed dreary and hopeless, I would hold onto the knowledge that the winter months would soon approach and Christmas would always come, no matter what.

When I moved in with Zexion we celebrated the holiday, and I enjoyed it just as much as I would have as a child, but it still wasn't exactly the same. I was too old to believe in Santa Claus and too mature to spend a sleepless Christmas Eve night excited about the presents I was going to be able to open in the morning.

"Not my family," I finally spoke up, but I just wanted the conversation to end. I wasn't ready to talk about my past. I was never ready. Even thoughts of it ruined my mood, so talking about the memories was bound to send me into a deep melancholy. "I don't really know what it's like to truly experience a Christmas with family."

Roxas let go of his tree branch and looked over at me. I could tell by his face that I'd already said too much. I'd gone and made him curious, and that was bad news for me. "What do you mean?" His brow furrowed as he spoke.

"Nothing." I waved him off and desperately racked my brain for anything else to say. I examined the room frantically; searching for a subject changer, and just when I thought I might start to panic, my eyes fell upon two identical shaped keys of different colors.

"But you just said-"

"What's the story behind those?" I cut the boy off with ease and shuffled towards the coffee table. I turned back to look at Roxas, and though he appeared a bit confused at my sudden interruption, he didn't say anything. His stare was too much for me too take, though, and I felt like his eyes were looking into the depths of soul, so I turned back around again and swiftly snatched the gold key from the surface. I held it up in-between two of my fingers and watched it shimmer. "You've told me about everything else but not about these."

I heard Roxas' footsteps and saw a blur moving closer out of the corner of my eye until it stopped right next to me. I let my eyes focus on him once again. He picked up the other key from the table and held it in his hand, like it was something so delicate, something that could shatter from the smallest movement.

"They belong to Sora and me." He wrapped his fingers around the item, concealing it from view. "Cloud has one too. My father got one for each of us when we were born. He says that keys are a sign of strength."

"Strength?"

"Yea," He unclasped his fist to look at the ornament again. "Keys open things, you know? My dad said that as long as we had the keys to use, anything in the world would be open for us. Any hopes, wishes, dreams, we could accomplish them all as long as we hold the keys in our hearts."

Roxas stared down hard at that little key, and there was something I just couldn't make out in his eyes. And when I looked back at the golden object in my hand, it was no longer just some little senseless ornament to hang on a tree once a year but a symbol of courage, love, strength. Basically everything I always wished I'd possessed.

I don't know exactly how long we stood there, but it felt like ages. Eventually, Roxas broke out of whatever trance he was in. "The one you have is Sora's." He walked over the tree and carefully placed his silver key on one of the highest branches. "I'm going to let him hang that one up himself when he gets back."

I nodded and handed the object over. Roxas set it on top of the fireplace and just kind of stared off into space for a minute. The atmosphere had changed in the room and all I wanted was for it to go back to normal.

"So, is that it?" I analyzed the tree, and something about it didn't look quite right despite the fact that it was decrepit. "Something's missing."

"Well, for one thing, the star." Roxas bent down and retrieved a cardboard star covered in silver and gold glitter that looked like it had been made in a kindergarten class. "Don't look at me like that. I made this in the first grade, and we just always use it." He held it out to me, and some of the glitter fell off.

I tried to hold back my laughter as I took it from him. "You want me to put it on top?"

"No, I want you to carry it around with you always as a symbol of my affection for you." He rolled his eyes at me. "Of course I want you to put it there. Sora usually does it by standing on a stool but…"

"That's ok, shorty." I ruffled his hair, and he batted my hands away before glaring at me. "I'd be happy to oblige."

I leaned forward on my toes, though not by much, and cautiously set the star on the very top of the tree. We were lucky the thing was so lightweight otherwise I think the tree might have toppled over. I was actually surprised that it already hadn't, considering its weak state and the amount of things we'd put on it.

After the star was securely on top, I stepped backwards to admire our work. I have to say that despite having to work with the most pitiful tree ever in the history of Christmas trees, we'd done a pretty damn good job. It actually looked decent. In fact, it looked more than decent. It looked awesome!

"I don't know." Roxas tapped a finger against his chin. "I still think there's something missing."

"What could possibly be missing from this beautiful tree?" I asked, throwing a hand out towards it. "We took a piece of crap and made it into a masterpiece!"

The blond's eyes narrowed slightly then widened again. He left his spot by the tree without a mention of what he was doing and walked over to a desk that was sitting on the other side of the room. He came back moments later with a bag in his hand and a devious smile playing on his lips.

"What's that?" I asked, watching him suspiciously and putting just a bit a space between us as an act of caution.

"Don't act so suspicious," He said as he held up the bag for me to see. "It's just tinsel. You're acting like it's a weapon or something"

"Well, with you it could be," I joked then stepped forward again. "Or must I remind you of the spaghetti incident?"

"Hey, that was all you." He opened the bag and reached inside. "You were the one who made the first move." He pulled out a handful of the glistening silver ribbons and threw some on the tree.

"I guess you're right." I was still cagey as I reached my hand over from a distance and dug inside the bag. "But you took it to a whole other level with the sauce."

"What was I supposed to do? Let you douse me with soggy noodles?" I took careful notice of the smirk that never once left his face. "I fight back when I have to, and it just so happened that I had to."

"Is that so?" I asked as I draped some tinsel over a branch without taking my eyes off of the youngest Strife. He was definitely up to something. I could just feel it, and his behavior was giving him away completely, for once.

"Yea it is." He stopped moving and kept his hand shoved deep in the bag as he turned to face me.

We stared at each other for a few fleeting seconds, then Roxas spun around like he was going to go back to working on the tree, and I let my defenses down a little too early. Before I had the chance to react, he had lifted a handful of tinsel out of the bag, and I turned back around just in time to have it thrown in my face.

I stood there for a few seconds, trying to figure out how I'd let myself get fooled like that. Then I heard the airy giggles filling the room and my heart, and I wiped off the silver strips that still managed to cling to my skin. Once my vision was clear again, I could see Roxas standing right in front of me, laughing like he'd never be able to breathe again.

"That was too easy." He held onto his stomach and wasn't even bothering to try and hide his mirth.

"Oh, it's on," I said as I grabbed the bag out of his hands.

He didn't even attempt to look fazed and instead just crossed his arms over his chest. "Go ahead and take it. There's plenty more where that came from."

And in a flash, he was rounding the couch again and opening the desk drawer. He whipped out another bag, identical to the one I was holding except his was full and mine was half-empty. Why was it that I always seemed to get the short end of the stick?

He stood in place for a moment, and wasn't about to waste any time. Even when I moved, though, we weren't getting anywhere. When I went left, he went right and vice versa. Eventually, I thought of something so simple that it should have been the first thing that came to mind. I stayed still for a moment and grinned in Roxas' direction before I made my sudden move. I leaped forward over the coffee table and landed on the couch with both of my feet. The blond hadn't been expecting my abrupt movements because he just sort of staggered backwards when I jumped over the back of the couch and poured the contents of my bag over him.

I took no chances and moved away almost as soon as I attacked. Once the boy found his bearings, he came after me, and we circled around the couch a few times. "It's over," He said, staring me down evilly. "I still have this whole bag left."

"That may be true," I said as I looked to my side, trying to get a feel for my surroundings and plan my escape, "but I can outwit and outsmart you any day of the week."

And with that, I took off running for the kitchen. Roxas followed me with ease. We ran around the house for countless minutes. Whenever the blond would get close to catching me, I would suddenly find a burst of speed and just barely evade his grasp. He would up wasting half of his bag of tinsel that way.

By the time we both started running out of energy, Vincent began running around our heels, yipping and snapping at the silver ribbons as they fell from the bag. When I felt like I couldn't take anymore physical activity, I stopped dead in my tracks right in the entryway and bent over to catch my breath. That was my way of surrendering. I heard Roxas still running after me, and soon I felt the tickle of the tinsel as it fell over my face and down inside my shirt.

"I win," the boy said proudly.

I turned around and faced him, still breathless, only to see that he had his hands on his hips and a smug smile on his face. "Yea you do," I breathed out. "You always win. I don't stand a chance against you." I meant that in more ways than one. The short blond had appeared in my life out of nowhere and caused me to fall for him, just like that. He broke down all the defenses I'd built up over the years, and it took him no time at all. He had me from the beginning; he'd always been the winner.

Things got quiet again. I was used to things being quiet around Roxas sometimes, but it was the way it got silent that caused me to pay special attention. It was the look in his eyes that I couldn't quite make out. It was the way he was nervously fidgeting with his hands and trying to avert his gaze. Something was different about that moment.

He looked like he was fighting with himself over what he wanted to do next. I watched as he opened his mouth and then shut it again almost instantly. He would raise his hand slightly and then let it fall back limp at his side. He constantly shifted his weight from one foot to the other. I'd never seen him act so nervous before, but it made me edgy too, for some reason. I felt like something was going to happen, I didn't know what, but I could feel it. Something was definitely different.

Just when I thought that we were going to be standing there awkwardly until nightfall, Roxas finally lifted his head to look at me, and I froze under his gaze. A few seconds later, he raised his hand and pointed up to the ceiling. When I looked at him curiously he sighed in annoyance and pointed up a little harsher. I had to hide a smile at his reaction, it was just so him, and it made me feel a little more at ease. That is, until I bothered to peer up.

As soon as my eyes landed on the green leaves that were hanging there over the entryway, I felt like my brain had exploded into a million little pieces because I had no idea what to think. "What's that?" It was a stupid question, but at that moment I felt numb.

Roxas rolled his eyes. "You know what it is."

Of course I knew what it was. Even though I could be quite thickheaded at times, I was still smart enough to know what mistletoe was. What I didn't know was why Roxas had pointed it out. The first thought in my mind was, of course, that he wanted me to kiss him. But what if I was wrong? What if I misunderstood everything? What if it was just a simple acknowledgment that we happened to be standing under mistletoe and nothing more? I would have looked like a complete idiot bending over to kiss him only to be rejected. And even worse, it could ruin everything.

"Mistletoe," I said blandly, not even sure how I found the will to speak.

"Right," Roxas said. He took a deep breath. "We're standing under the mistletoe."

Even in a moment like the one we were having, he still took the time to speak to me like I was a child with no understanding of the world. Somewhere inside I was laughing at that, but on the outside I was just blinking. "What do you want me to do?" I figured I'd just come out and ask exactly what I was thinking.

"What do you want to do?" The corner of his mouth turned up into a sort of half smile, and I thought I was going to die. Either it was my imagination, or he was actually inviting me to kiss him.

At that moment, I knew words could not do me justice. There was nothing, coherent or otherwise, that could accurately express what I was thinking or feeling. So I decided to throw away all of my doubts and anxiety and just take action.

I bent over slowly in case I was on a completely different planet and Roxas wasn't actually asking what I thought he was asking for, then I could just play my movements off as something else. But the boy made no sudden actions and showed no signs of backing away. In fact, he seemed to plant himself even more firmly in place, so I moved forward even farther by taking a step. One careful step in the direction of everything I never knew I wanted until a couple months prior.

When I was practically face to face with the blond, I stopped moving. I had never seen his eyes so closely before, and if I thought they were amazing before, they were even more memorizing up close. I felt like I was being hypnotized, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I could feel his breath on my face as it came out in harsh, shaky puffs, and I felt like my heart was pounding in my head. I was about to take a huge step. The biggest step I'd taken since I moved out of my parents' house. Despite being nervous beyond all comprehension, I had never wanted anything more.

I wasted no more time in moving ahead. When our lips were mere inches apart, I heard Roxas' breath hitch, and I almost backed away. I thought about reaching my hands up and touching his face, but I didn't want to do anything too much, so I just took one last sharp breath, squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my lips against his.

I wish I could say that it was the most amazing kiss I'd ever had in my life, but I'd be lying if I did. It was special in its own way, though, and I knew I'd remember it forever. The first awkward and slightly stiff kiss that Roxas and I ever shared. And even though we pretty much stayed still the entire time, I felt the fireworks going off in my heart at the mere touch of the blond's lips against mine. The emotions that simple act caused to rush over me were nothing short of incredible. I felt like nothing could stop me from feeling happy ever again. Thoughts of my past evaporated for those short, few seconds, and all the scars on my heart had practically healed.

Before I knew it, I felt my lips turn up, and I was smiling as our mouths were pressed together. Not even seconds later, Roxas started smiling too, and I just knew that our fates had been written somewhere in the stars. Our destinies had been intertwined. Things were happening just as they had always been planned.

Eventually, we broke apart and just stared at each other like a couple of grinning idiots. Even seconds after we parted, I could still feel the tingling sensation on my lips, and I couldn't believe what we'd just done. It was almost like everything was too good to be true. Like it was all unreal and none of it had even happened. I had to convince myself over and over that I wasn't dreaming, that Roxas was really standing just before me, and we had just had our first kiss.

Then Roxas' face fell and his smile disappeared, and I felt like I'd done something wrong. He turned around quickly, raising a hand to his head. "What am I doing? I can't be doing this. I mean…I shouldn't." He paced forward a few steps, and I just stood there, dumbfounded. He turned back around again, and I saw the worry marring his features. "We shouldn't be doing this. What if something goes wrong? What if someone finds out? My parents would flip!"

I had forgotten all about him being in the public eye and about the consequences he and his family might face if anyone found out about us. The last thing I wanted to do was cause any harm, and I almost regretted making a move in the first place, regardless of Roxas being the one who started it all.

He quit muttering to himself and looked back up at me through slightly narrowed eyes. He walked a few uncertain steps towards me then stopped, then he moved forward and stopped again. I had no idea what to say or do, so I just watched him. Blue eyes widened again as they looked into mine and the smile resurfaced. "Oh, what the hell!"

He practically sprinted over to me and before I had the chance to grasp what was going on, I felt him wrap his hands around my neck and I was being pulled downwards. Suddenly, his lips crashed into mine, and all of my sensible thoughts were, once again, thrown away.

That time, the kiss was a little more forceful as Roxas pulled me forward. I brought my hand up and grabbed onto the side of his face, running a shaky thumb over his cheek. I wasn't sure that I was doing the right thing, but when I heard him moan into the kiss I nearly felt my knees give out. I don't what came over me, but it was like I wasn't even making my own decisions anymore. I felt much braver than I ever had before, so I opened my mouth a little and ran the tip of my tongue across his bottom lip. I felt him shiver slightly as he let one arm fall from my neck and run across my chest. Like I'd been kissing him all my life and it was the most natural thing in the world to me, I pulled his body closer. I wanted to feel him up against me, and even despite the awkward position caused by height difference, everything just felt right.

"Roxas! What are you doing?"

At the sound of the familiar, shocked voice, we broke apart instantly. Apparently, we'd been so caught up in lust and desire that we didn't even hear the lock click or the door open. And I definitely didn't notice Sora and Riku make their way inside.

I tried to straighten myself up and fix my disheveled hair, and I observed Roxas doing the same, all while never meeting his brothers' gaze. I felt so strange and, frankly, a little embarrassed. I just wanted to crawl into some invisible hole and disappear.

Riku was leaning against a wall in the entryway with his arms crossed and a knowing expression on his face. I glared back at him, but he just wiggled his eyebrows at me. I had to resist the urge to walk right over and slap him. It wasn't his fault that Roxas and I hadn't thought about the fact that someone could walk through the door at any moment, but even so, he was such a smug bastard and he probably deserved to be put in his place. But I had to admit that his slightly aggravating personality probably made me like him even more.

"Roxas, what's going on?" Sora stepped forward and eyed his brother. The younger sibling just kept his eyes on the floor. "What did we just walk in on?" When asked the last question he turned around to look at Riku, and the silver-haired male just shrugged his shoulders like he had no idea what was going on even though I knew he most certainly did.

Roxas finally looked up. His hands that were once nervously messing with his hair went lax at his sides. "What does it look like?" A hint of annoyance mixed in with his words.

"It looks like you were kissing Axel, but I know that can't be true." Sora never once bothered to look at me, yet I still felt like I was being judged by him.

Riku's eyes had finally found another place to rest, and that was on the brewing storm between the two brothers that we were about to witness. I could tell that he knew what was coming, as well, because when I glanced over at him the next time he seemed unusually serious.

The last thing I wanted to do was cause more problems between the youngest Strife and his brothers, but the wheels had already been set in motion, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. It's not like I could have gone back in time and erased everything. I wouldn't even have wanted to. Watching everything play out was the only choice I had. That always seemed to be the only thing I could ever do.

"Why can't it be true?" Roxas' face hardened. "You saw it with your own eyes, so don't tell me you're going to try and deny it."

"I…Roxas…what are you doing?" Sora raised a hand and rubbed at his eyes before he sighed. "Are you…do you like…you're gay?"

As soon as the brunette spoke the words, Roxas' head snapped up. "So that's it?" He stepped towards his brother and pointed a finger at him. "You're pissed because you found out that I don't fit the mold of the perfect angels that we've been forced to become. If anyone finds out about this our image as the ideal family will be ruined, and you can't handle that."

"Roxas, that's not true." Sora tried to reach for his brothers' arm, but the younger was quick to snatch it away. "I don't care about the image or the…the being perfect thing." I could hear the desperation and sadness in the brunette's voice, but Roxas just scoffed and averted his eyes again. "I care about you, I care about our family, and I'm just upset that you never bothered to tell me something this important."

"Tell you?" Roxas laughed wryly, making my heart sink. The day had been almost perfect up until that point, and I was starting to think that perfect didn't really exist. It was just a figment of people's imaginations. A myth that someone dreamed up so life wouldn't seem so bad. "Tell you? How am I supposed to tell you anything? Half the time you're never around, and the other half you're too busy acting like nothing is wrong with this family to pay attention when I speak the truth."

I had never seen Sora look so sad and dejected as he did then, and I hated it. Just seeing how pitiful he looked made me want to bake him a cake full of sunshine and rainbows and feed him cookie dough ice cream until the smile was back where it belonged. I wanted to do anything to bring back the light that Sora brought with him every time he entered a room or looked at you, like just making simple conversation with you was the highlight of his day.

"Roxas…"

"You know what, Sora?" Roxas smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant one. It was one made of anger and scorn, and it didn't even deserve the right to call itself a smile. "Forget it. I'll just let you, Cloud, mom and dad go on living your little fantasy life, but I'm done." He turned around swiftly and ran up the staircase.

"You're making too much of a deal over this!" Sora called after his brother.

The younger sibling stopped once he got to the stop of the stairs and looked back down. "Maybe you should be too."

With that, the blond turned around and disappeared from sight, and Sora stood in place, silently watching the space where his brother once stood. Riku finally moved into the kitchen without even bothering to say a word to his friend when he walked by.

The whole house was silent besides the shuffling sounds Riku was making as he moved about the kitchen and that little tree in the entryway singing Christmas carols. The whole scene was so weird, and I just couldn't take the silence anymore. I was tired of the silence. I was tired of just sitting there and watching relationships crumble before my very eyes, but even though I wanted so badly to say something, to help reconcile the situation, I didn't.

Every time I opened my mouth to speak, memories of my past would flash through my mind. How could I give guidance or try to help someone else with family problems when I couldn't even do anything about my own? I could preach all kinds of things and spit out tons of meaningless advice, but the truth was I didn't really know what to do to fix things with Roxas and his family any more than anyone else did.

Sora finally turned back around and regarded me for half a second before walking over to the kitchen and leaning his elbows on the counter. "What are you making?"

Riku looked up from the baking sheet that was laid out in front of him. His silver-hair hanging down over his eyes made me wonder how he could even see what he was doing. "Making cookies," He replied and held up a container of cookie dough. Sora's eyes lit up almost instantly. Apparently, Riku knew what he was doing, after all. "Can't have Christmas without cookies."

The brunette clapped his hands together like a child and hopped around to the other side of the counter to help his friend. He picked up the cylindrical container that the dough was in and started to read it. The little 'oohs' and 'ahhs' that escaped his mouth as his eyes scanned over the thing made my heart feel a little lighter.

Sora nudged Riku in the ribs as the taller male was greasing the cookie sheet and pointed something out to him on the package of dough. Despite having been interrupted and getting grease all over the counter, Riku just smiled back at his friend and laughed lightly to himself.

At that point, I felt more out of place than ever before. I might as well have been a fly on the wall because I felt like no one even noticed I was still in the room. What I really wanted to do was go and see how Roxas was doing, but I didn't know how Sora would react if I just suddenly made my way up the stairs without even sparing a word. At the same time, I didn't want to just come out and bring up the youngest Strife sibling and be the one who caused the mood of the room to sink into the depths of darkness again.

I came to the conclusion that Roxas probably wanted to be alone, anyway, and it would just be best if I made myself scarce. Sora hadn't said one word to me since the whole confrontation he had with his brother, and I got the feeling that he most likely didn't want me to be around. I had slipped almost completely off of Riku's radar for the moment and was no longer a point of interest to him, so standing there for any longer would have made me feel like some desperate idiot, like I was some kid standing on the sidelines, desperately hoping that the cool kids would talk to me and let me into their little circle.

I cleared my throat and two pairs of eyes instantly looked my way. "I'm just going to go." I tried to make my exit before those blue eyes got a chance to burn a hole through me, but I was stopped.

"No, wait!" I turned back around to see that Sora had dropped his cookie dough and was walking towards me. He grabbed onto my arm and started to drag me into the kitchen. "Stay and make cookies with us!"

I was a bit taken aback by his friendly reaction as I allowed myself to be pulled over to the counter. Riku didn't even bother to look at me, but I saw the smirk on his lips. "I don't know…."

"It'll be fun," Sora assured me as he shoved a stick of dough that had a Reindeer decorated on it into one of my hands and a knife in the other. "Plus, I think Roxas needs you."

The last thing I expected was for the brunette to bring up his younger brother, and I definitely never thought he would talk so easily about my relationship with him. "Oh…"

"Yea, he's going to need someone to talk to eventually, and I think we all know that won't be me." Even though he was talking about the problem, Sora's mood remained cheerful. It was like baking cookies had some kind of magical powers over the boy and the whole atmosphere in general. By just speaking the words, everything that was at one time upsetting was no longer an issue. "So, what are your intentions with my brother?"

"Intentions…?" I had absolutely no idea what to say to a question like that.

"Yea," Sora began but stopped as he concentrated on cutting a slice of the dough just right. It reminded me of when Roxas worked so hard on making his cupcake, and I wondered if the Strife brothers ever saw how much alike they were. "Like do you plan on treating him right…"

"Or are you just going to use him and then throw him away like yesterday's garbage?" Riku finished the sentence with ease.

I couldn't believe that I was standing in Sora's kitchen making Christmas cookies with him and a silver-haired nuisance while being grilled about my intentions with Roxas. If I hadn't been so nervous about the subject matter, I definitely would have been laughing hysterically.

"Uh…no."

"No, what?" Riku moved over to the sink to wash his hands off.

"No, you're not going to use him and throw him away, or no you're not going to treat him right?" Sora looked over at his friend and almost mimicked his annoying smirk when he turned back to me. When I found myself at a loss for words, he tapped his impatient fingers against his crossed arms. "I'm waiting for an answer."

"Um, no I'm not going to use him…I mean…I would never…I don't…" I felt as nervous as a teenage boy standing in front of his girlfriend's father for the first time and getting the third degree.

Sora began to giggle, and he had to drop his knife completely so he didn't cause any unfortunate accidents. Riku was back over to his friend's side in an instant, and he didn't bother to hold back the chuckles escaping from his lips either. He placed a hand on the brunette's shoulder and bent over to catch his breath.

"You should see your face," he breathed out as he raised his head a little. It didn't do any good because I could barely see his face behind his long silver locks. "Did you see his face?" he asked as he and Sora looked at each other and burst out laughing again.

"Yea." The shorter of the two clutched onto his stomach. "It was a classic 'oh shit!' look."

I stared at the both of them for a few seconds, willing myself to show some annoyance, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't feel anything but amusement.

"Lighten up, Axel," Riku said, leaning back against the counter. "And get to work."

"Yea, I was just joking." Sora slapped me on the back then started to work on slicing the dough again. "I know you wouldn't do anything to intentionally hurt Roxas."

I smiled at the short brunette and was about to start focusing on the cookies when I noticed Riku just standing there, looking over us with a watchful eye. It was like he was the big boss of the operation and we were but his humble servants. Sora didn't seem to mind, but I wasn't just going to stand there and take it.

"Aren't you going to do anything?"

"I started this project _and_ fixed up the cookie sheet." He rested his elbows behind him on the counter's surface. "What more do you want from me?"

"Gee, I don't know," I tilted my head to the side and pretended to be deep in thought. Then I held the dough out towards him, "maybe you could—and this is just off the top of my head—help?"

He gave me the same look I got from him on the night I catered the party and refused to be his servant, like he couldn't believe what I was asking of him. It was nice to know that despite showing a somewhat human side he could still be an insufferable douche.

I shook the item in my hand, urging Riku to take it, but I knew it wouldn't be that easy. He lowered his eyes to my hands and then back up to my face, all without making any other movements. We stared at each other for a while as if the whole thing was some kind of challenge, and then Riku just started laughing. Just when I felt like I wanted to throw the cookie dough at him in the nicest way possible, of course, Sora spoke up.

"C'mon, Riku. Help us!" He handed a knife over to his friend. "Don't you want to be able to say that you helped make Christmas cookies with the multi-talented Sora Strife? Oh, and Axel too."

The silver-haired male scoffed playfully but grabbed the knife out of Sora's hands, anyway. The brunette looked extremely pleased at how he was able to convince Riku to join in as he cut his dough and gave a half to his friend.

"Ok, I'll help." Riku tapped the knife against the counter. "But I think it's the both of you who should feel privileged to work with someone as stunningly gorgeous as me."

And even though his words were completely self-centered and would make him sound like the worlds biggest arrogant bastard to anyone who didn't know him, there was still something mildly endearing about them. I'm sure he actually believed what he said, at least to some extent, but that was Riku. You either loved him or hated him, and everyone who got to know him loved him despite his certain apparent personality flaws.

I was more than a bit amused that all it took was one request from Sora to cease all of Riku's protests and bring an end to the holier-than-thou act he liked to put on, but the brunette star was like that. I swear he could get the devil to reform from his evil ways just by flashing that huge pearly smile in his direction.

I spent most of the evening, side by side with the other two, making at least six batches of cookies. Little did I know when we started the project that we would be making the treats for everyone we knew. Sora explained to me that he did that every year, and according to Riku, his shorter friend was the king of everything Christmas. One sweeping glance around the extravagantly decorated living room would have let anyone in on that bit of knowledge.

A few hours and seventy some odd cookies later, I found myself standing in front of Roxas' bedroom door. Under normal, or at least semi-normal circumstances, I might have waltzed right through the door without a second thought. But as it was, things were hardly normal anymore. Not at all, really.

First of all, Roxas and I had just kissed. Not just once, but twice. We kissed under the mistletoe of all things. I'd been dreaming about feeling those lips on mine pretty much since the first day I saw him despite all my attempts to deny the urge, and even though it was like a dream come true, it still felt incredibly random and unreal.

It was true that I'd been getting the feeling that there was something more behind Roxas' words when he spoke, and more than anything, the whole cupcake incident should have been the biggest indicator of the boys' feelings. I'm pretty sure I knew somewhere in the back of my mind that Roxas felt something for me and that the kisses were bound to happen, but I was just so used to things not working out that I just pushed those thoughts out of my mind in favor of not getting my hopes up. I'd been doing that since childhood, so it was pretty much like second nature.

And then on top of discovering a different kind of relationship and having to deal with emotions I'd never allowed myself to feel before, Roxas and Sora were once again fighting, and I wasn't quite sure why. It seemed like every time Roxas got upset he automatically got defensive and twisted everything around, bringing the original misunderstanding back to something about his family. It was like he was too preoccupied with something else that he didn't even focus on the problem at hand.

After countless of minutes standing there in front of the door that, at the moment, felt incredibly intimidating, I finally found the all the courage I was going to need to face the short, moody blond just on the other side.

I tapped lightly a couple times on the wooden surface and didn't get any response, so I knocked a little harder. "Roxas? It's me…uh…Axel" I cringed at my awkwardness.

There was still no response, and I was starting to get the feeling that either I wasn't wanted or Roxas was asleep or something. I turned around and started to slowly make my way down the darkened hallway. I could hear Riku and Sora still in the kitchen, laughing and talking. They were busy making up several plates of cookies to hand out in the coming days.

I was about to step down onto the first step when I noticed a door opening. I stopped in my tracks and slowly looked back over my shoulder. Thanks to the flashing lights coming from inside of the room, I could make out that the bedroom door had been cracked open. There was no sign of the short blond, but I figured since he'd even bothered to open the door that was an invitation for me to enter.

Each small, guarded step I took back towards the room felt even more difficult than the last, like my feet were made of lead. I don't know why I felt so nervous. Ok, I did know, but two little measly kisses shouldn't have been making me so tense, even if they were everything my tiny, little, love-deprived heart wanted.

I walked through the doorway as soon as I reached it, not even giving myself a chance to have any doubts or second thoughts. Roxas was lying on his bed on his stomach and facing the huge television set that was giving off the only light on the whole second floor. I didn't even bother to take notice of what he was watching because that was the absolute last thing I cared about.

He didn't even acknowledge my presence as I walked further into the room. I shut the door a little harder than normal so I could get his attention without actually making it seem like I wanted it, and it did the trick because as soon as the door clicked shut he looked at me for all of two seconds then turned back to whatever program he was watching.

I stood there, pretty much right next to the door, and waited. Waited for him to say something, do something, anything because I certainly wasn't about to make the first move. Of course, I could have, and maybe I would have if it hadn't been for the complete emotional rollercoaster the whole entire day had been.

Luckily, I didn't have to wait very much longer because Roxas sat up from his lying position and turned the television on mute. And I kind of wished he hadn't. The silence was deafening, and it only served to make my stomach churn even more. Why was it that the fact that we had kissed suddenly made things a hundred times more awkward? It was almost like we had gone back in time, or at least I had, to where everything with Roxas was new and we weren't even close enough to be considered friends. When every time I talked to him seemed like a challenge of epic proportions and just getting coherent sentences out of my mouth was like pulling teeth.

"You're still here?" He flung the remote back over his shoulder and threw his legs over the side of the bed.

"Uh, yea." I motioned towards the door. "I could go now if you want, though."

"No, stay," He replied immediately and stood up from the bed but made no attempt to move any closer. ""What were you doing downstairs all that time?"

"Oh…" I thought about making something up, but as usual, when I looked into those blue eyes I just couldn't lie. "I was making cookies."

His eyebrows raised in amusement. "Making cookies…? With…"

"With Riku and…uh…" I ran a hand through my hair. I didn't want to say the other name even though it was completely obvious.

"You can say it. Sora. You were making cookies with Riku and my brother." I felt like a loser for not being able to say it.

"Yea." There was nothing else in the whole of my mind that I could think of saying.

"I bet Sora made everyone forget that anything was wrong, huh?" I had no clue how to respond to that. It was true that Sora had an uncanny ability to make problems vanish, but I didn't want to come right out and say that. I liked the sunny brunette despite the little feud he and Roxas were having, and I didn't want to give the blond anymore ammo to use against his brother. But apparently I'd done just that with my silence because he rolled his eyes. "Yea, he's good at that isn't he?"

I dared to step further into the room for the first time since I entered. "Look, Roxas. I don't want to get in the middle of anything." I prayed that my words wouldn't somehow piss him off, and I was relieved when I saw his face soften as he stepped towards me.

"You're right." He bowed his head and sighed. "I don't want you to pit you against Sora or anything. I love my brother, I do. But he's just so blind. He doesn't see what's right in front of his face." Roxas angled his head so he could look across the room, and when I followed his gaze I saw exactly what he was looking at. That same ancient picture frame I'd already had too many run-ins with. It was lucky that I was all the way on the other side of the room and unable to cause it any damage.

I wanted to ask what exactly he meant by his statement, but I also didn't want to upset him any further. We stood there quietly for a few seconds, and my eyes automatically started to search around the room for something to occupy my mind. They eventually landed on the clock above the television, and for the first time I discovered how late it actually was. It was going on twelve o'clock in the morning, which meant that I had been down in the kitchen making cookies for over five hours. Besides being absolutely crazy, it was a complete surprise to me.

"It's getting pretty late, so I should probably get going."

I didn't want to leave. I would have stayed there forever if I could, but I had work in the morning, and if I didn't leave soon I'd probably be half dead when I arrived at the bakery at eight AM. I regarded Roxas for a couple seconds, wondering if I should do something, hug him, kiss him, I had no idea what to do. I kind of felt like it should have been easier, more natural, but I was new to that kind of stuff, and I got the feeling that Roxas was, too.

When he didn't move, I turned around for the door, but I was stopped when I felt a hand grab a hold of my wrist. Roxas spun me back around, wrapped his arms around me and pressed our bodies together. My heart started to pound rapidly, and I just knew that Roxas was going to be able to hear it with his head pressed against my chest the way it was.

"I don't want you to go." He voice was muffled by my shirt, but even if it hadn't been, it still would have sounded small. Roxas was more vulnerable in that moment than he ever had been before, and when I wrapped my arms around him, I did so cautiously. It felt like I was holding onto something so fragile and precious, something that was about to break, and I wanted to do everything I could to prevent that from happening. "Stay…" He sounded so unsure. "Stay with me tonight."

There was no way I could have ever turned down his request. "Ok." I ran a hand through blond hair, and it sort of scared me how it just came so naturally. It was like once we were wrapped in each other's arms, all the awkwardness was gone and we knew exactly what to do. Like it was just meant to be. "But where am I going to sleep? I mean, Sora is here, so it's not like you can sleep in his room. I guess I could sleep on the couch. It's not like I haven't done that a couple thousand times in my life, and your couch is way more comfortable than mine at home—"

"You can sleep in here." Roxas pulled away and looked up at me but still kept his hands on my waist. "In my room."

"Oh, ok, I can sleep on the floor too, I guess. I've done that a few times, as well. Although, there was this one time that was really bad . I'd rather not talk about that, though." I was rambling and I knew it. I could hear it, but I just couldn't stop it.

"No, I mean you can sleep here…in my bed."

That shut me up. "Oh, of course." I tried to play it off casually, but the truth was I was practically dying inside. What was I supposed to make of a request like that? I mean, it wasn't everyday that people invited me to sleep in their beds, at least people that I was attracted to. And by people I'm attracted to, I meant small, temperamental, blonds with amazingly blue eyes, named Roxas. "I knew that."

"Sure you did." He smirked up at me and finally let go of my waist. I frowned slightly at our loss of contact. "So, you probably want to take a shower before going to bed right?"

The words sounded so bizarre yet relaxed, like it was every night that the blond and I slept together. Slept together. Just the sound of those words bouncing around in my head was enough to make my mouth feel dry and palms turn sweaty. I swallowed the lump in my throat before responding. "Yea, I probably should."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, after a hot shower that did its job in calming my nerves, I walked back into the room to find it completely dark. Thinking that Roxas was already asleep, I shut the door softly and virtually tip-toed across the carpet. I could barely make out the bed in the soft moonlight that was shining through a gap in the curtain. Just as I thought I was going to make it successfully and was about to round the corner of the bed, my foot slammed into what I assumed was the desk chair, and I went flying to the floor with a yelp.

The clothes in my hands went soaring, and I landed on the floor with a barely audible thud. Not even a half a second later I heard the rolling laughter coming from above me. I turned onto my back and saw Roxas peering down over the side of the bed.

"I thought you were asleep," I said as I sat up and tried to find my belongings that had been scattered all over the floor.

"Well, you thought wrong." He reached down, picked up my shirt and handed it to me.

I stood up, and he kept his eyes trained on me without saying a word. "What?" I looked down at myself, trying to figure out what was making him act like that. "Is something wrong?"

"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"

Somehow, I'd forgotten about that. "Oh, yea. Well, the shirt you gave me didn't quite fit, so I just figured I wouldn't wear one." It had never crossed my mind while I was putting on the clean clothes that Roxas had given me to wear that going shirtless would have been that big of a deal. But I think I sort of forgot the small detail that the blond and I were going to be sleeping in the same bed. "Is that a problem?" I paused and smirked mischievously even though I knew he wouldn't see it in the dark. "Or do you like what you see?"

"You're an annoying pervert." He threw a pillow at me and crawled back over to the other side of the bed.

I tossed the pillow back on the bed. "You're the one inviting a pervert into your bed."

He didn't say anything after that, so I just started to fold my clothes up neatly. Normally, I would have just rolled them up into a ball and thrown them wherever, but I was trying to stall the inevitable, which was getting into bed with Roxas.

"I have to go to Sunday dinner tomorrow at my parents' house."

"Oh." I finished folding my jeans and tossed them onto the bedside table. "That doesn't sound too bad."

He laughed dryly. "Yea, you would think that." I didn't know what to say to that, so I just silently hoped that he would continue. "I hate going to my parents' house on any occasion, but I hate Sunday dinners even more."

"Why's that?" I threw the last of my garments onto the table and placed a knee on the bed.

"Every Sunday my brothers and I go to my parent's house for dinner. It's supposed to be some kind of family thing, but really it's all for the image. Everything is about the image. We are the perfect celebrity family. The family that everyone wants to be"

I finally got up the nerve to make another move and sat down on the edge of the bed. I felt the mattress shake as Roxas moved around. I was still attempting to grasp onto the whole 'sleeping in the same bed' concept and there Roxas was, throwing another huge confession my way.

"That's the reason why I moved out as soon as I could. I was so tired of living the lie." He let out and elongated and somewhat shaky sigh. "We used to be a normal family. We had our ups and we had our downs, just like everyone else, but we made it through. Now, downs aren't acceptable anymore. There are no problems in my family, only perfection."

I finally lifted both of my legs onto the bed and lay down on my back, letting my arms fall to the side. I felt Roxas' hand right next to mine. My fingers twitched a little as I contemplated whether or not to grab onto it. In the end I decided against it, and so my fingers just faintly brushed across his skin.

"Except things aren't really perfect. They never are. We all just pretend." I felt Roxas' hand move closer to mine, but then it stopped. "Just once I'd like to see my father get mad or my mother lose her temper. Sometimes I just wish my family would get into an all out shouting match because at least we would be showing some emotion. Something that was real instead of hiding all the negative emotions behind fake smiles and phony laughter."

It was then that I realized how different yet strangely relatable our pasts and family lives were. I would have done anything in the world if, just once, my parents would have pretended to smile through the problems, and there Roxas was, hoping that his family would just open up and show what they were really feeling, even if that feeling was anger. And suddenly, I didn't feel like being tentative anymore, so I just reached out and grabbed onto the blond's hand. We intertwined our fingers together but said nothing about it. Nothing really needed to be said, anyway. Everything was explained in that simple touch.

"That's why Cloud and Sora go along with it, that's why they easily forget about the problems. I can't really blame them because that's the way we've been trained for five whole years, but I can't do it that easily. I can't pretend like problems don't exist. I can't pretend like we're normal and perfect, when in reality we're the farthest thing from that. "He scoffed. "The perfect family. What a joke."

I squeezed his hand tighter before speaking up. "Maybe you can be the change that your family needs." He didn't reply, so I just kept on talking. "Sometimes it just takes one person to make a difference. So just show your family that they don't need to hide behind the masks. Remind them that being normal or imperfect is ok."

"I want to but…I mean, this has been going on for so long. And I've tried to get through to Sora and Cloud, but they just don't listen."

"Maybe you're just not telling them the right way." Roxas tried to protest, but I cut him off. "I've seen you. You get mad and angry, but you never really explain things to them. I'm sure if you did they would listen. Maybe they already know what's going on, but they don't know how to fix it either."

He pulled his hand away from mine, and I could tell I was pushing all the wrong buttons even though that hadn't been my intentions. "What would you know?"

The words hit me hard because he was totally and completely right. What in the hell did I know about fixing broken families? Absolutely nothing. For some some reason, though, the advice I was giving didn't feel contrived. I felt like I was really speaking from my heart, and maybe if I had been wiser years ago I would have been able to at least attempt to fix things with my parents.

"Maybe, you're right. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but you have a chance to fix things, Roxas. Don't let that chance pass you by."

"Goodnight. Axel." I felt the mattress shift again as Roxas turned away from me, and suddenly I didn't feel so sleepy anymore.

Roxas was angry at me. Not only that, but he had revealed a part of his past to me again. He told me about things that were close to his heart and problems that he trusted me with, yet I kept on being a secretive asshole who never bothered to let anyone in on anything, even someone I really cared about.

I knew what I had to do. Well, not really what I had to do but what I wanted to do. I wanted to let Roxas in on my past. I trusted him enough to tell him secrets that no one else knew besides Zexion. And I was terrified. I'd only known the youngest Strife for a couple of months, and I was already prepared to spill everything that had taken me years to even tell to my best friend in the whole entire world.

I took the deepest breath I'd probably ever taken in my entire life before finding the strength to speak. "My tattoos…" I heard the sheets rustle slightly, and I almost lost all of my nerve. I spoke up again before I had the chance to change my mind. "I got them when I was eighteen, just after I moved out of my house and into my apartment with Zexion."

Roxas didn't make a sound, but I knew he was listening. That was the nerve-wracking part. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to go on. No matter how difficult it was, I knew things would be better once I got everything out in the open.

"My mother and father weren't really what you would consider parents. They gave me life and all, but that's about the only good thing they ever did for me. My dad was a hopeless gambler, and he would always get drunk whenever things didn't go right, and my mother had so many jobs that she was never around. And even when she was, she had no time to spend on me."

I couldn't believe that I was actually speaking the words out loud. I'd gone over the memories in my head so many times over the years, but to hear them out loud again was almost a surreal experience.

"My parents had no time for me because they spent basically every free moment fighting and tearing each other apart." I figured I would be numb to the images that were flashing before my eyes, but I was wrong. I was fighting back the pain with every word that left my mouth. "Sometimes their fighting even got physical. And every night I would hide myself in my room and do anything I could to block out the noise. I would sit in the corner of my room farthest away form the door with the lights on and headphones over my ears, trying to shut everything out. And even though it worked, I could still hear the shouting, the anger and the rage in my head. It never went away. I just sat there for hours and cried. I cried until I had no more tears left, and even then I couldn't stop the dry sobs from escaping."

The mattress dipped as Roxas scooted closer once again, but I didn't waste any time thinking about that because I was too wrapped up in my story, too absorbed in the past.

"By the time I moved out I was eighteen, and I was so tired of crying. I never wanted to cry another tear as long as I lived, so I went to the tattoo parlor one night with Zexion and I got these." I reached up to touch my face even though I knew Roxas could probably scarcely see me. "I wanted them to represent all the tears I'd shed in the past and the ones that would never get the chance to fall from my eyes. Because I'm done with crying, Roxas, and I'm through with heartbreak."

I let out a shaky breath as I finally finished, and surprisingly it made me feel more at ease. Roxas didn't say anything, but before I knew it, I felt his hand on my face. He ran his finger over my cheek like he had once before, only there was something more in his touch. It was gentle and soft, and I could almost feel every emotion, every heartbeat, in that simple contact.

He let his hand run down the rest of my face and then rested it on my chest. I reached up to grab a hold of it, and he laid his head on my shoulder. His hair tickled my neck and chin, and I could feel every breath he was taking and every single beat of his heart. We were so close, and the connection we had made with each other was more than physical.

I wanted to stay that way forever. Roxas made me feel safe, he made me feel wanted, and most of all, he made me feel loved.

"I'd never do that to you." I felt soft lips brush against my cheek where one of my tattoos was painted on. "I'll never make you cry."

That was the last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep, and I knew I'd definitely found the magic of Christmas.

* * *

**First of all, I feel like this chapter has been a long time coming. Secondly, I can't believe this story is over 100,000 words. And what better way to celebrate than Axel and Roxas finally getting it together. :p**

**Thank you so much for all the support and feedback on this story. You guys are awesome and you seriously make my day!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

The wind was blowing harshly as Zexion, Demyx and I trudged our way up the driveway, weaving through all the fancy cars to the front door of the Strife's mansion. The snow had picked up from a few days earlier and was coming down pretty steadily, signaling that winter was upon Radiant Garden in full force.

We were all bundled up with more coats and sweaters than was necessary because we'd taken Zexion's crappy old car and the heat decided to give out halfway to our destination, making the whole inside of the vehicle similar to that of an ice-box. Apparently, Demyx's idea to bring extra jackets just in case hadn't been as idiotic as I originally thought. Despite being completely wrapped up from head to toe to try and keep warm, we actually looked somewhat festive.

My roommate and co-worker were wearing identical Santa hats. Demyx physically forced one of the brightly colored hats he'd brought along with him onto Zexion's head when we picked him up. After a few short minutes of lackluster protesting, my best friend just accepted it. His lack of legitimate complaints was a bit suspicious, but I had little time to think about it because before I knew it, I was being handed a pair of reindeer antlers that Zexion pulled out of the glove compartment. He told me that Yuffie left them for me. He passed on her exact words that a red Santa hat with my red hair would be overkill, thus the antlers, equipped with noisy, jingling bells hanging off of them, were the perfect solution.

Normally, Yuffie would have been there herself to let me in on her misguided wisdom. She would have been right next to Demyx in the backseat, griping at Zexion about how he needed to get his piece of crap car fixed, and she would have been at least five feet in front of us, leading the way to the front door. But as I'd come to find out when I asked my roommate what time we were picking our two friends up, she wasn't going to be riding with us and instead was attending the Christmas gathering with someone else.

And that someone just happened to be a certain silver-haired nuisance that I had a lovely experience with in Roxas' kitchen involving Chinese food and mind games. That's right; Yuffie was attending The Strife's Christmas party with Kadaj Hikari. When I was informed of that little fact it surprised me, to say the least, and it took me good a few seconds to get over the initial shock that Kadaj was able to feel human emotions.

I'd obviously known about Yuffie's attraction to either Cloud or his best friend for a while, but for some reason I'd never considered that Kadaj was the chosen one. Hell, I'd almost all but forgotten about the girl's little love confession from all those weeks ago. And even more than that, I'd never noticed any interaction between the two of them. Of course, that was probably all of my own doing considering I spent every waking hour with Roxas. If I wasn't with him, I was thinking about him. If I wasn't thinking about him, I was dreaming about him and so on. Basically my life had started to revolve around the boy.

I'd become so focused on myself and the youngest Strife sibling that I had little to no idea what my friends had been up to in their lives. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a slight pang of guilt when my roommate looked at me incredulously as I asked when the whole Yuffie-Kadaj union had happened. I felt like I should know the major events of my friends' lives, and the fact that I didn't made me a class A douche. But just like always, Zexion could tell how I was feeling without me even having to say a word, and he waved off my self-loathing and explained that he didn't know all the details of the so-called relationship between Yuffie and the silver-haired male and that I'd have to ask her myself. I planned on doing just that. Eventually.

With that bit of information out in the open, I noticed that Zexion was the only one without someone. Well, technically Demyx was, too, but he'd probably already started some fantasy relationship with my best friend in his mind, so he didn't really count. I didn't say anything out loud, so Zexion was spared, at least for the moment, but from the second that the thought entered my head till we made it onto the porch of the mansion, my mind had been running rampant, plotting and planning a way to bring the two men at my side together. They were obviously meant to be, and it would be tragic to prolong their suffering any longer. At least that's how I excused my scheming.

But all plans were put on immediate hold when the door swung open just as we reached the top step and I was about to press the doorbell, and I was met with those same bright, azure eyes that always caused my breath to hitch and made my heart skip a beat. The effect they had on me was even more drastic ever since we'd taken the next step in our relationship, whatever that step was.

Just standing there, it was like in our gazes we held a secret that only we knew. Except for the fact that we'd clearly been caught by Sora and Riku. And Zexion had somehow known that something more was going on between me and the blond, which wasn't too shocking because over the years my best friend had come to know me practically better than I knew myself.

"Hi," Roxas greeted, but he was only looking at me, and I was only looking at him. Demyx and Zexion might as well have been non-existent along with the party guests that I could hear talking and laughing from inside.

"Hey." I smiled and saw Roxas' lips quirk upward. The action brought back memories of decrepit Christmas trees, mistletoe and hasty, awkward first kisses. And more than anything. I wanted to wrap my arms around the boy and pull him close to me, to lose myself in his blue eyes and kiss him until neither of us felt like we could breathe and we had to pull apart, laughing and basking in the glow of how amazing it was that we'd found each other.

My fantasies were cut short when I heard Zexion clear his throat and I felt two other pairs of eyes on me. I turned my head to the side only to see my roommate giving me an annoying smirk that proved he knew exactly what was going on in my mind. It was probably written all over my face.

It was official that I could no longer hide what Roxas made me feel. Not that I'd done a bang up job in the past, but from the moment our lips first touched I knew that all the hiding, the running, the denying, it was all over. As the days passed, the nervousness of it all, of finally opening my heart up to someone for the first time in forever, began to fade. It was replaced with an intense feeling that I didn't know how to describe, but it was amazing, and I could almost physically feel the scars on my wounded heart healing. Every glance at that flawless face, every sweeping touch of soft blond hair against my chin, every interlacing of fingers and meeting of lips was helping the pain, that had felt all too real for so many years, slip away like it had never been there in the first place. I felt alive and complete for the first time in a long time, and I didn't care who knew that anymore.

The other pair of eyes that were staring at me was an entirely different story from that of my best friend. You see, Demyx could be incredibly dense when it came to things that weren't cookies or cupcakes or pastries. Oh, he might have been a secretly deep thinker and a lot wiser than people gave him credit for, but sometimes it took him a little longer than others to see the obvious. I could easily tell that the question I saw in his eyes had nothing to do with the fact that Roxas and I were staring longingly at each other and was more along the lines of what we were all doing standing in the frigid outdoors when there was a perfectly warm house right in front of us.

"So…" My co-worker gave me one last sidelong glance before facing towards Roxas and the semi-open door again. "Can we come in or not? Because it's sort of freaking cold out here." He wrapped his arms around his body and shuddered, and I smiled to myself because I had his thoughts pinpointed exactly.

"Oh, yea sorry." Roxas dipped his head, his cheeks turning a cute shade of pink as he stepped back to let us through. "Everyone is in the living room."

As soon as he said it, I could hear Sora's light-hearted laughter and Yuffie's obnoxiously overbearing voice filtering through the house. It reminded me that I had some very interesting questions for the girl. Not to mention, I was curious to see the whole Kadaj relationship thing—or whatever it was—with my own two eyes. Maybe I'd even have a few words for the silver-haired male. After all, Yuffie was like a little sister to me and knowing the games that Kadaj could easily play, I felt obligated to step up and threaten his life if he did anything to hurt her.

I started to walk forward, completely wound up in what I was going to say to the two and already thinking up multiple ways I could threaten the man. I heard footsteps behind me, signaling that my two friends were following my lead, and then everything came to a stop when I heard one very familiar voice that brought me back to the present.

"Wait!"

I halted in my tracks. Demyx, who was probably too busy staring at my roommate, slammed into my back almost causing us to tumble forward. I turned around once I regained my balance to see Zexion grabbing onto my co-workers arm to steady him. Besides feeling neglected that my best friend was obviously willing to let me fall to the ground to an over exaggerated death in order to save Demyx, it also greatly amused me and gave me more than enough will to go through with the plan I hadn't quite perfected. I could see something starting between the two of them, whether Zexion wanted to admit it or not. All they needed was one final push. A shove that I was more than willing to give them.

"I want to…um…I want to show you something." Roxas lowered his head once again to look at his nervous fingers then peered back up at me. Once we'd been gazing at each other for a few milliseconds, I saw him visibly relax. It was like all it took for the nervousness to fade away was a glance into my eyes, and that made me feel like something special. Like what Roxas and I had between us was more powerful than I'd imagined.

"What do you want to show us?" Demyx skipped over to the shorter blond, curiosity like that of a child visible all over his face.

I heard Zexion sigh, then he walked forward and grabbed a hold of my overly hyper co-worker. "He doesn't want to show _us_ anything."

Demyx looked to be a mixture of perplexed as to why he was being dragged away and in awe that my best friend, his not so secret crush, was actually touching him. "Oh…" His brow was slightly furrowed as he stared back at Roxas and me and allowed himself to be dragged a few feet away. Then I watched as the sudden realization washed over him. He freed himself from my roommate's grasp and spun back around with an amused grin on his face. "Oh! I get it now." And finally Demyx joined the ranks of several others who had caught on ages beforehand.

All I could do was smile and glance over at Roxas. I kind of expected him to be more nervous than he was, though, and it surprised me how calm he appeared, even with the knowledge that someone else had been clued in on what was going on between us. It was a completely different reaction from the one he'd had when Sora discovered everything, and I couldn't help but wonder who else knew about us. For all I knew, every single one of our friends could have found out, Cloud, Namine, Kairi, maybe even Roxas' parents knew. That thought sent chills down my spine. After all that the blond had told me about his family, I couldn't imagine them just accepting something like that.

My thoughts turned from anxious to downright miserable in no time at all because I realized that despite crossing one tiny speed bump in the road, Roxas and I probably had tons of trials ahead to face. It only made me feel slightly better that we'd be facing them all together.

My inner thoughts of doom and gloom were interrupted by a shout of glee and the sight of an overexcited blond leaping back across the room. Demyx was all smiles as he stood in-between Roxas and me and focused all of his attention on the two of us. I decided that I was going to let him have his kicks because later, once my plan had been put in motion, he wouldn't be smiling. Ok, so maybe that thought was completely foolish since I knew Demyx would probably kiss the ground I walked on if I managed to successfully get him and roommate together. But I was too content in the moment to care about his annoyingness. Besides, Zexion would probably be plenty disturbed by the outcome of the plan, and that would certainly make up for any annoyance I felt for the blond. No matter how backwards that logic was.

"Let's go, Demyx." Zexion rolled his eyes and grabbed onto the man's arm once again, and that contact was enough for my co-worker to practically forget that anything else in the world existed. I knew that feeling all too well. My best friend gave me a sly, knowing look as he dragged a dazed Demyx across the foyer and into the living room.

I watched as the two disappeared from sight, and then Roxas and I were off the hook. I turned back around to relish in the fact that I was finally alone with the blond, but as soon as I did, he wasted no time grabbing my arm in a similar fashion as Zexion and began pulling me behind him towards the staircase.

"Where are we going?" I asked as I tried to keep in step with him. I'd been caught off guard so it was a struggle to get my feet working properly on such short notice.

"I want to show you something," Roxas said over his shoulder without even slowing down. And I knew that was all the explanation I was going to get from him.

He dragged me up the staircase, and by then I was able to keep up with him. About half-way up the stairs, without breaking his rapid pace, Roxas let his hand slide down my arm and grabbed a hold of my hand, locking our fingers together. I stopped for just an instant, marveling at how that simple gesture could make my heart feel like it was about to burst, and that was all it took for me to be yanked forward and trip over the next step.

I landed awkwardly but I pushed myself back up with my free hand and struggled to make it seem like I hadn't done something so embarrassing in the first place. Roxas never looked back or even acknowledged my fall, but I heard his quiet snickering and felt his grip tighten on my hand.

Finally, we made it to the second floor and down an all too familiar hallway that I'd seen not that long ago when I'd been caught snooping. Once we passed the first few doors, I knew exactly where we were going and I wasn't quite sure how to feel about that. Just why was Roxas so eager to bring me to that room? A bedroom of all places. And what was it that he wanted to show me exactly? Before my mind had the chance to make its way further down into the gutter, we stopped in front of that door momentarily, but he wasted no time in quickly pushing it open and tugging me inside.

Once we were inside and the door was firmly shut behind us, Roxas turned around to face me with an impish grin playing on his lips and God, was it hot. It took all the self control I had, which wasn't much by that point, not to push him on that bedthat suddenly seemed a lot more appealing than the last time I'd seen it, climb on top of him and do things that would certainly interrupt even the noisiest of parties.

Thankfully, I had always been one to look before I leaped. Sort of. Even though I tended to jump into things almost headfirst, I always at least attempted to evaluate all the outcomes of something before I did it. And despite some of the amazing possibilities I thought up regarding Roxas and me alone in a room with a bed, the evil realities of life had to come and crash all of my dreams and hopes, just like they always did. I realized that a house full of people—of friends and family and most importantly...parents—was not such a good place to live out fantasies. No matter how desirable they seemed or how incredibly hot Roxas looked when he was biting down on his lip and practically begging me to take him right then and there.

Once I reluctantly nullified thoughts of skin and sheets and my name falling from perfectly shaped lips, I realized that there was still at least something I could do that wouldn't be nearly as scandalous but just as—if not more—satisfying. I stepped forward, completely ready to pull Roxas close and feel his lips on mine when I was shot down.

"No. Not yet." The boy pressed his hand against my chest, effectively stopping my advances. I let out a grunt of protest, and he looked like he was about to open his mouth to say something but stopped. He tilted his head just slightly to the side and studied my face like he was never going to see me ever again and was trying to remember every small detail. Normally, that kind of thing would make me feel uneasy, but I wanted Roxas to look at me that way forever. It wasn't until I felt his hand clutch lightly at my chest that I realized he never let go in the first place. "Why is your heart beating so fast?"

He asked in the most innocent of ways, like how a child would ask why the grass was green, or why rain fell down from the clouds above. It was also a question that, at one time, I might have had a hard time answering, but I definitely knew the answer, and I was no longer afraid to admit it. To myself, or anyone else.

"Because of you." he looked up at me curiously. "You always do this to me, Roxas. You always have since the moment I laid eyes on you, and you always will."

He didn't say anything for the next few seconds. I never took my eyes off of his, but I felt as he clutched onto the fabric of my shirt, and I took a deep breath as I got the feeling that he was going to give me what I wanted in the first place.

But I was wrong.

Almost as soon as I'd closed my eyes and leaned forward to prepare myself for the kiss, I felt the grip on my shirt loosen and heard footsteps shuffling across the floor. When I finally came back down from the anticipation that had taken over my mind, I noticed Roxas' back was facing me as he opened a drawer of the desk. That same desk that once held my one true adversary in life—a raggedy old picture frame. That's when I remembered that we had come up to the room in the first place for a reason. Roxas wanted to show me something.

The drawer shut with a soft thud and brought all my attention back to the blond in front of me as he hid his hands behind his back and walked cautiously back over to where I was standing. My curiosity was thoroughly piqued when I noticed, not only his actions but the slightly unsure, yet pleased look on his face.

"What's going on?"

"Well, you know how I said I wanted to show you something?" He shifted nervously. I would never get over how cute a nervous Roxas was. Not that he wasn't constantly adorable and my heart's every desire, but it was such a contrast from the smart ass, pissed off at the world blond sitting on his parents' steps that I'd met not so long ago. "Well…this is it."

He slowly removed his hands from his back, and in the palm of his left hand was a small package wrapped almost perfectly in bright red paper and topped off with an oversized green bow. He immediately averted his gaze as he held the present out even farther towards me.

I took the gift from his hand. "Roxas, I…" I tugged at the ribbon a little. "I didn't get you anything. I mean Christmas is still a couple weeks away…"

I felt bad that he had spent time and thought on getting me something, and I hadn't even really begun to think about what I was going to him. Maybe it crossed my mind a couple times, but the truth was I was terrible at picking out presents. Every time it came to buying gifts I had to resort to Zexion for help, even when the gift was for him. I didn't even give a second thought to letting my best friend help me pick out a present for Roxas because I wanted whatever it was I decided to get him to come from me and no one else. I figured something would just eventually come to me, and I'd hope and pray it was good enough for the blond. Although, in reality I knew nothing was good enough for Roxas. The most precious and priceless diamond in the world couldn't touch his worth.

"That's fine. I just wanted to give this to you now. Now is definitely the right time." He was still avoiding my gaze and instead was focusing his attention on the shoe that he was scraping over the carpet. "And you don't have to get me anything, so just open it."

The commanding voice he threw my way didn't do anything to hide his nervousness from me, but I did as I was told, anyway, and untied the ribbon. I peeled the paper off with ease instead of just ripping into the sucker like I would normally do. It was just that Roxas had spent time on carefully wrapping it and making it look so nice, and I couldn't find it in my heart to destroy it.

Once the wrapping paper was discarded, it revealed a plain white box in the shape of a rectangle. I chanced a glance at Roxas to see if he was paying attention, and caught him turning away just as I lifted my head up. He was really worrying over giving me that little gift, and it made me smile.

I finally lifted the cover off the box and pulled out a gold chain. I held it up in front of me,letting the small heart that was attached to it dangle level with my eyes. It was obviously a bit worn, but it still glistened a little in the lamp light.

"Roxas…"

"I know it's stupid." He finally lifted his head up and looked into my eyes for the first time since he handed over the gift. "It's girly and weird, but I just wanted to give you a present that meant something."

"It's not stupid." Nothing that Roxas did for me or gave to me would ever come across as stupid. "I like it."

"You're lying."

"I'll have you know that I am physically incapable of lying to you."

The blond visibly relaxed, and I saw his shoulders fall as he let out a deep breath. "It's just…" He trailed off for a few seconds and moved forward, taking the necklace out of my hands and unclasping it. He looked down at his hands for probably the twentieth time that night. "My grandma gave this to me before she died. And for a while it meant a lot to me. It still does but…you mean more."

I was frozen as Roxas moved forward again and pulled on my jacket to bring me down to his level. He wrapped his arms around my neck, an end of the chain in each hand. He leaned his head against mine and whispered into my ear as he finished clasping the necklace. "I'm giving you my heart to replace your broken one."

He attempted to move away, but I wasn't about to let that happen. I grabbed onto his wrists, and he gasped as I spun him around and pushed him up against the door.

No one had ever done anything like Roxas had done for me. No one had ever spoken words like he just did, and not once had anyone ever filled my heart with so much emotion and affection. In that moment, I felt like he was all I needed. He was the only thing I would ever need in a world that could be as cruel as it was kind.

I leaned forward with a broad smile on my face, and I didn't even have to open my eyes to know that Roxas was mirroring my expression. When I let our lips touch, ever so slightly, the adrenaline that racked through my body was like no other, and I pressed our bodies even closer. I wanted our kiss to be more than just physical. I wanted to feel everything that he was feeling and vice versa. I wanted the connection of our lips to make us a part of each other forever.

As I opened my mouth slowly, letting my tongue snake out and run along the length of Roxas' bottom lip, I couldn't help but wonder how I'd lived for so long without experiencing such an amazing feeling. And I'm not just talking about the kissing because as good as that was, it was the bond that the blond and I had formed with each other, the undeniable tie I felt between the two of us every time we looked to each others eyes that made everything worthwhile. All the struggles and heartaches I'd faced in my life, all of it was worth it if that's what I had to go through to have Roxas in my life.

He moaned into our kiss before opening his mouth and letting his tongue brush across mine. I finally let go of his wrists so I could let my hand trail behind his neck. With his hands free, Roxas put the newfound freedom to good use. He pushed my jacket off of my shoulders and let it fall to the floor behind me. Then he let his fingertips slowly, almost painfully, slide down my chest, down past my stomach until his fingertips were resting on the waist of my pants.

"Roxas." I breathed out, backing away just a little. I'm not sure if it was because I loved everything that we were doing or if it was supposed to be some kind of protest. A voice in the back of my mind was screaming that things were going too fast, and I knew that it was right, but Roxas' hands practically all over my body was seriously hindering my ability to think coherently. My whole mind was just one foggy mess of lust and yearning and emotions I'd never let myself feel before. Logic could have gone and jumped off a bridge for all I cared.

Instead of stopping, the blond just gripped a hold of my pants and pulled me forcibly towards him again. He wasted no time in finding my lips again and practically shoved his tongue into my mouth like the action was his only means of survival. I felt his hands take a hold of the zipper, and with every small, downward movement my whole body trembled. I was too far gone to stop anything, and despite the anxiousness rising up in my stomach, I wanted it all like I'd never wanted anything in my life.

But then the angry hands of fate decided to reach down and snatch everything away as someone knocked on the other side of the door that Roxas and I were pressed up against."Roxas, are you in there?" And that familiar voice proved that fate also had an extremely cruel sense of humor.

My eyes snapped open, and every ache and need that my body had just been feeling not even two seconds prior was gone, just like that. I watched Roxas' eyes widen in horror as he shoved me off of him. I hadn't been expecting his sudden movement, so I lost my balance and tumbled backwards to the floor. The force of the action caused the antlers on my head to slide off and land noisily to the side. Roxas ran a hand through his hair and pulled at his shirt to straighten it out, then he leapt to the side quickly, and he did so just in time because within seconds the door opened to reveal Cid Strife. It was almost like deja-vu, minus the whole kissing part.

"I thought I'd find you up here." The man walked through the door, and I hoped that he wouldn't notice me still sprawled out on the floor with my jacket half-way on and my hair all disheveled. But apparently that was too much to ask for because as soon as I finished thinking it, he turned to look at me, eyebrows raised. "I didn't know you had company with you up here. Alex, is it?"

Roxas scoffed, and I pushed myself up from the ground. "Uh…no, actually, it's Axel." I placed the antlers back on my head, hoping and praying to any God that would listen that Roxas' father didn't suspect anything. But even if the man was aware of exactly what had been going on just beyond that thin piece of wood that divided us, nothing on his face gave him away.

"Pleasure," He said as he reached a hand out towards me with an amiable smile on his lips. "I didn't know you and Roxas were so close." If only he knew just how close we really were.

I hesitated momentarily because the thought of letting him touch my hand, a hand that mere moments earlier had been groping his youngest son, just felt weird. I didn't have much of a choice in the matter, though, because he took it upon himself to grab hold of my hand and shook it politely.

"So, tell me a little about yourself. What is it that you do? How did you meet Roxas?" Cid asked as he let my hand drop.

I heard Roxas groan in contempt from somewhere in the background, but I didn't even bother to turn and look at him. Being held under his fathers' gaze like that was intimidating, and I was sort of afraid to take my attention off of him. I was even a bit nervous to open my mouth.

"I, um, I met Roxas…" I chanced a glance at said blond, and I could see the sympathy written all over his face. I turned back quickly to face Cid, and despite the kind expression and the unwavering smile that never left his face, I couldn't get over the feeling that he was judging me for every word I said. "I met him when I helped cater your party that one night and...uh…so…I work at the bakery. Wonderland Bakery to be exact.

The man's eyebrows rose again. "Oh, that's nice. It sounds like a charming little job." Every single, solitary word that came out of his mouth was condescending and patronizing, yet despite all of that, his grin grew even wider, and I wanted more than anything to believe in it. The whole ordeal was just mind-blowing, and I didn't know exactly how to feel. It was no wonder that Roxas felt like he couldn't take it anymore.

"So, what did you want, dad?" Thank God for Roxas breaking that awkward silence.

The older man's attention was finally off of me, and I felt a bit more relaxed, although, I knew the anxiousness wouldn't completely subside until Cid was out of the room for good. For me, that couldn't have come soon enough.

"I just wanted to talk to you about something." I felt a pair of the Strife's trademark blue eyes glancing at me for a split second, and I shifted uncomfortably. "But I'll just tell you later, ok?"

"Ok…"

Roxas wasn't doing a very good job at hiding his nervousness, and I wondered if his father could smell the fear radiating off of the both of us. He stood there quiet and unmoving for a few passing moments. I thought for sure that he had us all figured out and the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. I braced myself for what was to come only to see Cid ruffle his sons' hair and silently make his way out of the room.

Once the door shut behind him and I had counted the seconds to make sure he would be way down the hall, I let out a breath of relief and a small chuckle. "That was intense." I was speaking about more than just almost getting caught by Cid.

"Yea." Roxas ran an unsteady hand through his hair, and I caught his wrist before he had a chance to lower it down. He looked up at me with those big, round eyes that were so full of love and hope and life, and even though all of my passion and desires to finish what we started earlier had been doused, it didn't stop the feelings in my heart, the innocent ones that just wanted to be close to the boy.

I leaned forward slowly and let my lips brush across his cheek. I could tell by the shaky breath he exhaled that the whole thing with his father had been a little too much to take. If it was nerve-wracking for me, I could only imagine how Roxas was feeling. I just wanted him to know that no matter what I would always be there for him.

"Everything is going to be fine," I assured him as I straightened myself back up.

He smiled up at me and grabbed my hand. "Let's get out of here."

I didn't know where we were going, and I didn't bother to ask as I was dragged out of the room and down the hall. It didn't matter to me because anywhere we went was fine with me as long as we were together and Roxas was happy. I didn't care if it was the backyard or the moon. I was willing to follow him anywhere. I was that hung up, that absorbed in every new feeling we experienced together.

By the time I was making my way down the stairs, Roxas had already let go of my hand and was standing in front of the door, eager to get out of the house. Just as I was about to skip over the last few steps and scurry over to follow the blond to wherever he wanted to take me, my eyes spotted a small bundle of green leaves hanging over the entryway. The sight of them caused my feet to stop moving of their own accord, and I felt a sudden renewal of my mischievous spirit.

"There's something I need to do before we go." Roxas looked over at me inquiringly, and I let a crafty smirk cross over my lips.

Yea, I knew exactly what to do.

* * *

The plan had been set into motion. All parties involved, except for the unsuspecting victims, had been prepped, and things were moving like clockwork.

I had gone into the living room to grab my unwary co-worker and dragged him into the foyer. I told him we just needed to talk somewhere for a few minutes, and he fell for it easily. That's why it was Roxas' job to lure Zexion away from the rest of the crowd because my roommate knew me too well and would have definitely suspected something had I been the one to try and retrieve him. Roxas was the perfect person for the job because with his upfront and smart-ass ways, Zexion would never guess that anything was awry.

Once Demyx and I were exactly where we were supposed to be, I glanced up at the staircase where Yuffie was standing in the shadows. She was the force we might need if either of the men tried to escape. She gave me an enthusiastic thumbs up, and I shifted my gaze to the closet door that was cracked open, just slightly, to reveal a petite auburn-haired girl. Kairi was in charge of the camera that was needed in order to create items that could be used for blackmail. It wasn't really vital to the plan, but I was just a vindictive asshole like that.

Demyx started to ask questions, but by that time I could already see Roxas dragging Zexion behind him through the mass of people crowding the living room, and there was no more time for answers, just actions. I glanced upwards one last time and pulled the tall blond over a few inches so he was standing underneath the mistletoe just right. I backed away from him and lifted my hand to scratch the side of my face. That was a signal for the two girls to get ready because things were about to go down.

"What's going on here?" Zexion asked as he struggled against Roxas' forceful tugs. I knew once he saw me and Demyx he would finally realize that something was going on, but all that mattered was that we'd gotten them out of the living room and into the space of action.

"Nothing." I took my friend's arm from Roxas and pulled him forward. "Why are you always so suspicious of me?"

Fortunately, Zexion was too wrapped up in trying to figure out what was going on, glancing from one person to the next, to realize that I was in the process of positioning him perfectly underneath the mistletoe and right next to an equally oblivious blond.

"Because when you're involved I always wind up a part of something crazy." He narrowed his eyes at me as I backed away and snickered maybe a little too maliciously.

I looked over at Roxas and nodded my head slowly, letting him know that it was time for the main event. He held his hands behind his back and walked casually in a circle around the two men. My best friend looked as if he was about to leave, but just as his body made a slight jerking motion in the direction of the living room, Roxas made his move.

"You know, this is actually quite a coincidence." It was nothing of the sort, and I couldn't keep the small laughs from escaping my mouth. The short blond cleared his throat to bring all attention back to him, and it amazed me how he could keep his face so sincere at a time where I was barely holding it together. "But you guys just happen to be standing under the mistletoe."

Two heads immediately tipped back to look up at the ceiling. Demyx even glanced up twice, like he couldn't believe his luck. I could tell that he was dying inside. His face had grown considerably brighter, and his eyes were wider than I'd ever seen.

Zexion, on the other hand, was a completely different story. He just sort of froze in place, staring off into space. I expected some kind of volatile reaction out of him, name calling, curses, maybe even a few punches in my direction, but all I got from him was silence.

The stillness drifted on for a few seconds and nothing happened, so I took the reigns into my own hands. "You know what that means, right?" Finally, Zexion showed some signs of life as he turned to look at me. I couldn't make out the look on his face, but I continued on anyway. "You guys kinda have to kiss because that is the rule, after all."

I heard Demyx make some small squealing noise, but all of my attention was on my best friend as I watched his lips twitch upwards and he started to show some semblance of his normal self. "You can kiss my ass because I'm leaving."

He turned to walk away, but right on cue, Yuffie jumped over the railing of the staircase and landed directly in front of Zexion, successfully stopping him dead in his tracks and holding him to his position right under the mistletoe. "Huh-uh." She crossed her arms over her chest with a smirk. "You're not going anywhere."

Zexion sighed, and it was a sigh of defeat. A sigh that proved I was victorious and always would be. He had no other choice in the matter. Everyone in that room was well aware of the strength that Yuffie possessed, and my stubbornness could rival anyone's. My best friend simply had to admit defeat, and all I could do was mentally pat myself on the back for a job well done.

"Well, let's get to it," I said as I clapped both males on the back, causing the two of them to jump a little in surprise.

Zexion gave me one last glare that clearly told me I was going to die before he turned to face Demyx. He faced him, but neither one of them looked at each other. Their eyes were searching for any place else to rest than on each other. I wasn't fazed by Demyx's reaction. After all, he'd been lusting after my best friend for God knows how long and to have all of his dreams finally come true had to be pretty mind-blowing. I knew from first hand experience that that much was true. But the fact that Zexion, a man who was usually unfazed by everything and anything, seemed so tense was perplexing, to say the least. But I was reveling in every moment of that rare occurrence.

"We're waiting," Yuffie said in an annoying sing-song voice, and Zexion rolled his eyes.

After the girls' prodding and what felt like ages, Demyx looked like he was going to be brave and make the first move. He took a guarded step towards my roommate and finally let his eyes gaze upon the others' face. Zexion still didn't bother to look at the blond he was about to kiss. I could see my co-workers hands shaking as he raised his arms up and then let them fall back down to his sides.

The whole process was taking entirely too long and I needed to be somewhere with Roxas, damnit! So I decided since I'd come to the conclusion earlier that all my two friends needed was one final shove in the right direction, I was going to give them that shove. Physically.

I swiftly moved from my spot by the door over to where Demyx was standing. Once I was completely behind him, Zexion finally noticed my movements, but it was too late. I placed both of my hands on the blond's back and pushed him as hard as I could forward.

My co-worker let out a yelp as he went flying into the arms that Zexion held out to catch him with once he realized exactly what I was doing. When Demyx fell against my best friend, he sent him stumbling backwards, and the two of them landed against the railing of the winding staircase.

Yuffie's mouth was agape as she watched the whole thing, and Roxas looked at me with eyes full of humor. I even heard light, airy giggles coming from the closet, and I felt my own laughter rising up in my throat again. Somehow, I managed to keep myself from getting too excited just yet in favor of watching the main event without any more interruptions.

It didn't take much longer for things to play out. As soon as they landed against the stairwell and Demyx was fully pressed up against my best friend, I watched as his eyes widened and he looked upon the face of the man in his arms. And for the first time since the whole scheme began, they were looking directly at each other. I don't know what it was, but something changed in my best friend's expression, and it was something I'd never seen from him before. It was almost like he was seeing things for the very first time.

Before I knew it, and without a word spoken, Demyx grabbed a hold the bars of the staircase on either side of Zexion's head and leisurely moved forward. When they were only a few minuscule inches apart, my roommate licked his lips in a way that was entirely too sexy to be something done by _my best friend_. I immediately felt disturbed for thinking of the word sexy and Zexion in the same sentence and had to stop myself from gagging.

I was broken away from my disturbing inner thoughts when I heard a sharp breath and looked up just in time to see Zexion grabbing the back of the blond's head and pressing their lips together. He kept one hand around Demyx's neck and the other moved backwards to grab a hold of the railing. My co-worker moved his hands forward and let them dance lightly over Zexion's waist for a few seconds before clutching onto him and bringing his hips forward so they were pressed together even harder.

I think it's safe to say that every single one of us in that room was shocked into silence. Now, when I cooked up that whole plan, the last thing I ever expected was for Zexion to really get into it. I thought they'd give each other a peck on the lips, and then I'd be running for my life the rest of the night, trying to evade a furious roommate who wanted nothing more than to see me dead. The last scenario my mind ever thought of was the one that was happening before my very eyes.

Things were getting pretty hot and heavy between my two friends, and it was like there was no one else in the room but the two of them. I finally pried my eyes off of them and noticed that Roxas was looking at me with a proud smile on his face. I couldn't help but smile back. After all, we'd accomplished the whole thing together. With the help of a couple others, of course.

I glanced over at Yuffie, and as I suspected, she appeared to be thoroughly enjoying the show that she was witnessing. The two men might as well have been having sex right there in the foyer with the way the girl was practically salivating all over herself.

"Don't you have a boyfriend?" I teased as I nudged her in the side with my elbow.

She finally tore her gaze away from our friends and looked at me. I could see the flash of a challenge in her eyes before she spoke. "How about you?" She smiled obnoxiously over at Roxas before turning back to me. "Don't you have one, as well?"

Before I got the chance to respond to that statement or find out some more information about her and Kadaj, a small sneeze sounded out from the vicinity of the closet. All at once, I remembered the most evil part of my plan. I had to act fast before it was too late.

Luckily, Demyx and Zexion were still to busy eating each others faces off to pay attention to anything that was going on around them. They were making the whole plan go that much smoother because of their animal-like lust. Who would have ever thought I'd be saying that about my serious best friend and my foolish co-worker. The world works in mysterious ways, that's for sure.

I signaled for Kairi to come out from the closet, and she did so with a graceful ease that wouldn't even have disturbed the quietest of rooms. She tip-toed across the floor and smiled at the sight before her quite eerily, if I do say so myself. I think she got a big kick out of being on the other side of a camera for once, and who could really blame her for that?

As soon as she raised the camera up in front of her and the bright lights reflected all around the room, my two friends froze. Demyx's fat head was blocking my view of Zexion's face, but I just knew his expression wasn't a pleasant one, and if we all didn't make a move we'd be in his warpath.

I grabbed a hold of Roxas' hand as soon as Demyx was pushed backwards, revealing my best friend to me. All he had to do was raise a finger and open his mouth, and I was running for the door with the short blond in tow.

"Fend for yourselves," I shouted over my shoulder at the two girls. After I swung the front door wide open and before I stepped foot outside, I turned back around to the auburn-haired girl who was laughing uncontrollably and trying to keep herself out of Zexion's angry clutches as he chased her back towards the living room. "Guard that camera with your life, Kairi!"

With that, I tugged Roxas forward, and we disappeared into the dark and snowy night.

* * *

When Roxas said he wanted to get out of his house, I assumed he meant far away. At least some place far enough that we would have to take a car, but when I started walking towards the vehicle and he pulled me in the completely opposite direction, I realized that I was wrong.

I let the boy silently lead the way as we passed every single car in the driveway, as we walked directly out of his front yard and onto the sidewalk and even as we traveled past several houses, all of which were almost identical. Roxas' parents' house really stood out surrounded by a sea of boring homes.

By the time we'd passed at least eight indistinguishable mansions and I was starting to feel the effects of the unforgiving wind that was practically freezing me on the spot, I decided to finally speak up. "So, where are we going, exactly?"

Roxas must have noticed the chattering of my teeth because he slowed his pace and turned around. "Somewhere." There was a teasing quality to his voice. Though my frozen limbs were screaming at me to get annoyed, my heart won out in the end, and I just smiled back, as difficult as it was considering my face felt like ice. "It's not too far from here."

"Good."

"You know…" he stopped and let me catch up to him before he wrapped his left arm around my waist, pulling me to his side. "Maybe if you actually had some fat on your body, you might not be so cold."

"It's physically impossible for me to gain weight." I laughed and watched as my breath floated out into the air. "That's something else I can blame on my parents."

I felt Roxas tense, so I wrapped my arm around him. "I guess that means I'll have to keep you warm then, huh?" he said.

I squeezed his shoulder. "You already do."

Our contact was broken as Roxas pulled away from me and ran into the middle of the street. He turned around to face me, and the bright smile on his face, the one that was just as beautiful as I'd always imagined, the one that I'd seen dozens of times over the past few weeks, made my heart leap up into my throat. He waved his hand, urging me to follow him, and I stepped down onto the black asphalt.

"What exactly are we doing?" I warily moved forward. "Are you planning to get us run over by a car or something?"

He rolled his eyes and tapped the antlers on my head that I'd all but forgotten about. The jingling of the bells sounded out into the still night. "C'mon Rudolph, it's just over this way." He pointed to an area across the street before turning to leave. "And besides," He said over his shoulder, "there are no cars out around here this late at night."

When we finally arrived at our destination, I noticed that it was a frozen pond and not much else. Oh, the remains of a few trees and bushes were scattered about, and there was a raggedy snow covered bench off to the right. But basically, it was barren and kind of boring. To be honest, it was underwhelming. I was expecting some kind of magical place, something that would captivate me and leave me in awe. Instead all I got was…whatever that place was.

I focused my attention on Roxas. He was looking out at the area like it was everything I had hoped it would be. Like instead of some frozen body of water, he was watching every wish he ever had coming true before his eyes. His eyes were aglow with the delight of a child's, and though I didn't understand exactly what he saw in that place, the fact that he obviously loved it there made me want to like it too.

"So..." I took another sweeping glance around the area, trying desperately to find the beauty, the enchantment, something that would show me exactly what Roxas saw when he looked at it. But I failed. "This is it?"

"I like it here." I got the feeling that Roxas noticed my less than enthusiastic tone of voice that I tried to hide because his response was a little on the defensive side. "It's quiet here."

He was right about that. If there was one positive quality about the place, it was that. Except for the fact that the whole community was quiet, so there really wasn't much of a difference. "Oh…"

"I know what you're thinking." He stepped forward and slid one of his shoes across the iced-over pond.

"You do?"

"Yep," He barely glanced at me over his shoulder, but I could still see his smile. "You think that this place is lame."

"No, I don't." Roxas was silent, and I couldn't stand it. Lying to him just felt like the worst thing in the world. "Ok, yea. I kinda do."

I expected him to get upset by the honesty that I just couldn't hide from him, but instead he laughed. "Well, you're right." He peered sideways at me before stepping both of his feet onto the ice. "But I used to come here all the time when I wanted to get away from it all. So I guess it's kind of like a sanctuary to me or something."

"That makes sense."

"I think it only makes sense to crazy people." He let himself glide backwards a little.

"Then I guess we're both crazy." I laughed because there were times when I actually felt like I really was insane. But Roxas made me feel more normal than I ever had before, and maybe that was because were both a little abnormal. Almost complete opposites but bound together by forces beyond our control.

"I guess we are." He held a hand out towards me, and I just stared at him like he'd lost his mind. The smallest laugh escaped his lips at my reaction, and it was so amazing that I almost felt like I'd died and gone to heaven. A heaven that looked like some dinky version of paradise dreamt up by some lonely, little, blond boy who was just searching for a place where things could be normal. "Come here."

"Out there?" I asked and pointed to the ice below his feet. "Like on the ice?"

"Yea, c'mon, it'll be fun."

"Sure, it's all fun and games until someone gets hurt." For some reason, those seemingly innocent words brought back the fear I'd always felt when it came to emotions and sharing yourself completely with another person. Leaving your heart in someone else's hands and hoping that they didn't let it fall and shatter into a million irreplaceable pieces. Roxas and I were way past the point of no return, and that was the first time I'd really stopped to think about it. I could have been setting myself up for the same heartache I'd been dedicating my life to avoiding, and there was nothing I could do about it anymore. That was a paralyzing thought, and I almost felt the panic rise up and show its ugly face until a voice that sounded like everything good in the world dragged me away from all the worries and back into the safety of its embrace.

"No, one's going to get hurt." Roxas positioned a hand on his hip, and I could tell that he was getting impatient.

"With my luck, I'll step on a thin part of ice and fall through." I shuddered at the thought. "Then I'll get hypothermia and die. Or even worse, I'll lose all feeling in my toes and have to get them cut off!"

Roxas stared at me incredulously. "Axel, that is the dumbest thing I've ever heard." I did tend to be a little over dramatic sometimes. "And since when is having your toes cut off worse than dying?"

"Have you ever tried walking around with no toes?"

"No…but neither have you."

"Good point."

"Besides, I thought we already covered the fact that you are skinny, and I'm sure your bony ass couldn't break through ice even if you tried." His smirk turned into something softer before he spoke up again. "Plus, do you honestly think I would let you fall, let alone die?" I really believed that he wouldn't, and it was so strange to me that I could trust one person so much. "So, c'mon."

He wiggled his hand that he was still holding out, and I took one guarded step forward and then another and another until I was right in front of the dreaded ice. That's when I finally raised my head up and looked at him.

"Don't worry; I'll hold your hand the entire time." It was like he was speaking to a child. I honestly kind of felt like one at that moment in time.

"If I fall, I'm taking you down with me," I warned as I grabbed a hold of his waiting hand.

Before I even got the chance to prepare myself, I was already being pulled out onto the ice. As my feet slid across the smooth surface I felt Roxas grab hold of my other hand to steady me before I hit the ice and lived out the fate I'd predicted not only seconds earlier. It was a scary few seconds in which all I could see passing before my eyes was a toeless future.

"See, you're fine." I swear his words were like magic because he could make me believe anything. He could say that the tooth fairy was real and she lived in his dresser drawer, and I'd have absolutely no doubts that it was the truth.

"You know, you're right." Since the feeling of an impending doom had passed, I felt like a bit of my arrogant teasing was in order. "I am pretty damn fine."

Roxas glared up at me playfully then ripped his hands from mine, taking away my one and only lifeline. And before I had a chance to feel the dread, he pushed his hands against my chest and sent me flying backwards. I'm pretty sure as I slid backwards at what felt like the speed of light, all the while trying to keep my balance, I let out some pretty unmanly and embarrassing noises. I just kept soaring and gliding backwards with no signs of stopping. I felt like the damn energizer bunny or something. That is, until I reached the edge of the pond and fell backwards into a huge pile of snow.

As soon as I hit the ground, I heard Roxas start laughing like he'd never be able to stop, and I knew I was pouting by then. I sat up and spit some snow out of my mouth before setting my eyes upon a short blond that I was surely going to make pay for all he'd done. And I meant that in the nicest way possible.

"That was the funniest thing I've ever seen." He pushed himself across the ice towards me. His hands were on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. "Too bad I didn't have a video camera with me."

"You said you wouldn't let me fall." I picked up a handful of snow and threw it in his direction, but I missed him on purpose.

"I said I wouldn't let you fall through the ice and die. Falling on the snow was never covered in our agreement." He reached behind me, and I groaned when I heard the jingling of bells. "You seemed to have lost something there." He held the reindeer antlers in front of me but snatched them away when I went to grab for them.

He stepped off the ice and back onto solid ground then walked right past me. I reached one of my arms out, thinking I could get the item I wasn't quite sure why I wanted, but Roxas knew exactly what he was doing because he side-stepped out of the way, causing me to grab at thin air and fall back into the snow.

That was it! I was going to get those antlers back no matter what it took. It's not like I even cared about the damn things, but Roxas had started the game, and I was going to finish it. I picked myself up off the ground and stomped off to where the blond was standing by that rickety bench.

When I got there, he didn't even acknowledge my presence. I took that as my chance to win the silly game we were playing, once and for all. But as soon as I lifted my hand to grab the object out of his hand, he let it drop to the ground, turned around at lightning speed and clutched onto the front of my jacket, pulling me down in the process. The next thing I knew our lips were touching for the second time that night, and Roxas was shoving his tongue into my mouth. I, of course, allowed it. Eventually, our tongues were intertwined, and it was like we were both fighting for dominance.

I was starting to see exactly what Roxas saw in that small area. I felt the magic. I felt the awe. I felt the peacefulness. I was beginning to see it all.

Until, all at once, paradise came crumbling down all around us, only to land around our feet in bits and pieces of everything that was once pure and good and amazing. And just like that, our kiss was broken, our contact severed. I could feel the ties that bound us together ripping apart, and there was nothing I could do to prevent it from happening. Blue eyes were wide and filled with terror, filled with the stories of what could have been but obviously wasn't meant to be. Hands were trembling, perfect lips were opening and closing and trying to say something, trying to fix everything that couldn't be undone. Then all I was left with was the sight of blond hair retreating father into the distance, taking with it everything that I thought I would never be without ever again.

Paradise was demolished, ruined, mercilessly destroyed, and all it took was one single flash of a camera.

* * *

**I worked so hard to get this chapter done by today. It was a challenge but I did it! I hope all of my hard work was worth it lol.**

**As always, thank you for all the reviews, alerts, views, just everything. You guys never fail to make me smile!**

**:)**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It took approximately fifteen minutes for me to finally get out of my car, three minutes to make my way to the front steps and five long seconds to ring the doorbell.

The picture of Roxas and me kissing spread like wildfire, a raging inferno that consumed everything in its path and destroyed lives, one by one. Ok, so maybe I'm exaggerating it a little, but the thing was literally everywhere. Television, magazines, newspapers, internet, there was no escaping it. I'm surprised it wasn't posted up on billboards along the highways or placed on the side of city busses. Not that it needed anymore exposure.

It was funny how that one simple photograph garnered me more attention than I'd ever received in all the years of my life. I was actually noticed when walking down the street and for more than just my bright red hair and facial tattoos. People did double takes when they walked by, and instead of giving me strange or dirty looks, I could see the amusement or curiousness on their faces. Girls would whisper to their friends when they passed, not even trying to hide the fact that they were talking about me, about Roxas and me. But it wasn't just the young girls. I got attention from all kinds of people, teenage boys, housewives, business men, and even though most of them never said anything, I couldn't help but wonder what they were _really_ thinking about me.

We had an influx of customers at the bakery, mostly teenage girls all dying to see me in person. Apparently, I got the official fangirl seal of approval. They deemed me worthy of being with Roxas because we were hot together. We were going to get married, adopt ten kids and move to Besaid where we could spend every evening sitting on our porch swing and watching the sun set. Those were their exact words that I must have heard hundreds of times a day. It kind of creeped me out that they spent so much time planning out my life like that when I rarely even thought about the future. In any case, I knew that no future of mine was ever going to involve ten kids, and even though I didn't like to think about it, a Roxas-less future was looking more and more promising with each passing day.

Practically every single girl who walked through the entrance of the bakery wanted to take pictures with me or get my autograph. And as a general rule of the common fangirl, they were persistent as ever, never even giving me a chance to decline. I'd become the Wonderland Bakery celebrity according to Demyx, and Larxene never let me forget it. She used my apparent new found fame and the picture that caused it all as part of her arsenal against me, and I honestly didn't have anything to throw back at her. That was certainly a first, but my life seemed to be spinning out of control at such a rapid pace that going toe to toe with an evil demon in disguise didn't seem like such a good idea at the time.

Marluxia was thrilled with all the business he was getting—thanks to me—and he never failed to comment on how I should have stuck my tongue down Roxas' throat earlier. He was so elated that he didn't even care when I used dozens of his precious paper napkins to scribble my autograph on. Autographs that weren't even worth the paper they were written on. Of course, some girls had come prepared, as the really fanatical ones will do. On several occasions I found myself looking directly at the picture I kind of wanted to forget existed. Every time I signed a copy of that photograph I was extremely careful not get any markings on the image of beautiful, pale skin and blond hair. I just thought that by doing that I could somehow salvage what was left of our relationship, I could prevent things from getting any worse. It was completely stupid and totally illogical, but I guess I just needed to feel like I still had control over things in my life.

For four whole days, fifteen hours and thirty-two minutes, I was stared at, gawked at, watched like I was on display for the world. It was like I was up on stage. I was the lead actor in the biggest play in the world, but it didn't end there.

As soon as the picture was released to the public, which was almost immediately after it was taken, I started to get calls from different media outlets. Gossip columnists and reporters all calling and wanting to talk to me, begging me to spill all of the juicy details of a relationship that had barely even begun. The first few times were manageable. I just picked up the phone, politely declined, and that was that. Except it wasn't. One thing I learned is that the media is just as persistent as the fangirls, if not more. In fact, they are almost exactly like the crazed, pre-teen girls, except they get paid for it and are old enough to realize how insane they are acting. The calls kept coming, day and night, ring after ring after ring. It was never-ending, so eventually I just decided to unplug the phone. It was all I could do to keep Zexion from yanking the wire out of the wall and probably causing some pretty expensive damages.

It was safe to say that the secret was out. Millions of people all over the world, people I didn't even know existed, people I would never know the names of, knew about Roxas and me. They knew my name. They were aware of my existence. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't reveling in that just the slightest bit. I mean, all of my childhood I'd been practically ignored, and there I was, being talked about. There were actually people somewhere out there that wanted to be me. Granted, they were probably all fangirls, but still, I was being envied for once instead of the other way around. I was actually being recognized. That recognition came at a price, though.

You see, ever since the night of the Christmas party, I hadn't heard from Roxas at all, and he wasn't the only one. It was like after Zexion, Demyx and I said our hasty, unexplained goodbyes, we ceased to exist in the eyes of Sora and company.

Maybe once I found the will to actually move from that practically desolate spot where Roxas left me, I could have made an effort to explain things to Sora and Cloud or even Riku or Kairi. But I was so stunned at how everything had gone from amazing to pure shit in the drop of a hat. I was too worried about how everyone might react to the news, and even more than that, I was scared, terrified of losing everything. Because that's exactly what Roxas was to me; _everything_. I couldn't even imagine my life without him. Standing around in that house that was full of memories, listening to my friends laughing, hearing the cheerful Christmas music in the background that I normally loved, all of it made me feel sick, and I knew I needed to get out of there.

I could have gone looking for Roxas. I was even certain that I knew exactly where he would be. I was almost positive he would be in that exact same room we'd been in earlier. I could see him sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for me, hoping I would run after him and tell him that everything was going to be fine. If I could have just forced myself to walk up those stairs... But I couldn't. I couldn't face him. I couldn't face the fact that there was a chance he wasn't waiting for me, maybe he never wanted to see me again, maybe things weren't going to be alright. And I knew I couldn't deal with having my heart broken right after it had been put back together. So I ran. At the time, it felt like the right thing to do because in my mind, the longer I avoided everything, the longer I prolonged the inevitable.

When I said those farewells to the Strife family and the rest of my friends, I didn't know they would be taken so literally. Suddenly, it was like I'd never met Roxas on that fateful night of catering the party at his house, I never spent the weekend with everyone at a cabin in Gagazet, I never spent five hours baking hundreds of Christmas cookies with Riku and Sora. It was almost like the past few months of my life had been a dream, like they were just non-existent and I was some kind of lunatic who made up relationships with people I didn't even know.

But just because no one else was making an effort to talk to me didn't mean I wasn't trying my hardest to contact them. I called Roxas every day. Multiple times a day, in fact. Sometimes I'd call once, hang up and immediately call again. Needless to say, he never answered, and all I ever got was his voicemail, but I didn't let that deter me. I just took the next step. I tried to call his house phone and Sora's cell phone but with no success. Hell, I was so desperate I even called Cloud and left him tons of messages that I knew I'd probably think back on and cringe at. I'd become one of those desperate people who just can't tell when they're not wanted or wont accept it, but I didn't care.

Demyx and Zexion hadn't heard from anyone either. It was like we had all been cast away, cut off from the friendships we thought we'd formed. All of us, except one.

Yuffie was the only connection we had left to the Strifes. Sort of. She swore up and down that she didn't really see the family that much, as most of her days were spent with Kadaj. But I begged her, anyway, to talk to Roxas for me or even Sora if she saw him, and she promised that she would. I wanted to believe her, but I always got a feeling in the pit of my stomach when she looked into my eyes and assured me that she'd follow through on her promise. I always felt that she was hiding something from me, and I don't know what hurt more; the secrets she may or may not have been keeping from me or the fact that I'd become so suspicious of someone I considered a close friend.

Needless to say, things seemed pretty dismal, and if I had been anything like my old self, if being with Roxas hadn't changed me in so many ways, I would have seen that. I would have accepted the defeat and heartbreak with open arms. But somewhere along the line I'd become a different person without even realizing it. The new me believed in a little thing called hope. I made excuses as to exactly why I was being ignored by the Strife family. Things like: they were probably just waiting until the media frenzy died down, or maybe Roxas was finally trying to fix things with his family and just needed time alone. I truly believed that things would work out in the end. I just expected Sora to call me up and invite me on another adventure, Roxas would definitely explain everything to his parents, they would accept it, and we would be together. Our whole group would be back together again, and life would be more perfect than ever.

Too bad on that fifth day of my crazy, new life, I came to the realization that having hope doesn't always mean that things will turn out right, wishing for something won't always make it come true, and life certainly isn't a fairytale with a happy ending. They were lessons I'd already learned, things I knew like the back of my hand, facts of life that I'd repeated to myself over and over for years. But I'd abandoned all of that knowledge for a pair of vividly blue eyes that belonged to the most beautiful boy I'd ever met in my life. Because of my weakness, I had to learn every harsh, painful lesson all over again.

It was just another day where I was trying to make it through, exactly like the past four I'd survived. Except for the fact that in the middle it got all turned upside down, even more than it already was, and before I knew it, I was behind the wheel of my car, racing down the highway. The news that Demyx had innocently bestowed upon me, the way he unintentionally smashed every fragile hope I was clinging onto was almost too much to take, and I knew I had to do something.

I didn't even know what I was going to do or where I was going to wind up. All I knew was that I just felt like I had to go, just drive and see where that would take me. It wasn't until I pulled into Timber Greens that I realized how far I'd actually gone. It hadn't been my intention to go to Sora and Roxas' condo, but I guess subconsciously I knew it was what I needed to do.

Standing on the doorstep, waiting and listening to Vincent bark filled me with so many different emotions. I wanted to laugh at the memories of snowboarding, tinsel fights and Disney movies. But then those thoughts were shattered by visions of bodies dancing up against each other, lips almost touching and camera flashes so bright, they were blinding.

I got the sinking feeling as I stood there for another minute, willing myself not to turn around and leave, that no one was going to bother to answer the door. I'd been ignored by the people inside for days by phone, so what difference would it make if they ignored me in person? And even though I was slightly more than afraid of facing what was just beyond that door, I wasn't going to give up that easily. I didn't care that I left my apartment so fast that I forgot to bring a jacket on what was probably the coldest day of the year. I didn't care that all I'd eaten that day was a few potato chips and my stomach was going to be begging me for food soon. I was determined to stay there on that top step for as long as it took. Minutes, hours, days, I really didn't care. They had to come out sometime.

In the middle of all my planning, I heard the lock click. That small noise resonated in my head and sounded a lot more ominous than it should have. I watched the knob turn and took a deep breath in anticipation. Before I knew it, the door was wide open, and I was looking down at Sora, who was holding a wriggling Vincent in his arms.

The Brunette was struggling to keep the dog still as it wagged its tail and barked in my direction. I was glad that at least someone was pleased to see me because Sora wouldn't even meet my gaze. He just stared down at his toes nervously, occasionally glancing up but never looking at my face.

I felt so weird standing there in front of someone who had been ignoring me for days, someone that I thought I'd gotten pretty close to, and I wasn't quite sure what to say other than what I'd unintentionally come for. "I have to talk to Roxas." I said it a little more harshly than I intended. I saw Sora flinch a bit, but he finally looked at me in the eyes.

I almost thought he was going to tell me to get lost, that Roxas didn't want to see me anymore and his whole family wanted nothing more to do with me. But he gave me some weak little half smile that looked entirely out of place on his usually bright and cheerful face and stepped aside to let me pass by.

It wasn't until I really looked at Sora that I realized how worn down and just…sad he looked. I could tell in the way that he was constantly averting his eyes and clinging onto Vincent that he felt bad. It was always easy to read Sora because he never hid his emotions well. He felt bad about everything, and it was written all over his face.

A part of me was glad he felt that way because no matter how bad he was feeling, I knew I was feeling worse. Maybe I was being a bit selfish and self-important. Considering all that had happened, though, I'd say I had a pretty good excuse. But even though I still held some hostility against the star, mostly I just wanted to tell him that it was alright, that I would get over it and he had nothing to worry about. I wanted that happy, sunny Sora back. The one who loved the world and everyone in it. The Sora who would hold your hand if you were scared or sit with you all night when you needed a shoulder to cry on. I wanted him to smile at me because Sora's smiles were something magical, and I thought just maybe they had the power to heal wounded hearts.

But Sora didn't smile. He didn't say anything at all after I stepped into the entryway. He just shut the door behind me and let Vincent hop to the floor. The dog jumped all around my feet, but I didn't even bother to give him so much as a pat on the head like I would have under normal circumstances.

I moved forward when I was sure neither Sora nor I were going to say anything more. I would have moved even if I thought that he was going to speak up because I just wanted to see Roxas without wasting anymore time. I walked as quickly as I could without appearing too conspicuous. It's not that I was excited to get upstairs and hear the words I was dreading, but I just couldn't stand being in the living room any longer than necessary. There were too many reminders, too many things that were attached to memories. Happy memories that, ironically, would only make me feel worse. So I kept my eyes trained in front of me and walked to the staircase.

"Axel."

I had just placed my foot on the first step when the voice stopped me. Despite the strong urge I had to completely disregard it and keep going, I just couldn't. I could never intentionally ignore someone because I knew what it felt like.

When I turned around, Sora immediately bowed his head and started fidgeting with his hands. It was almost exactly what Roxas did when he was nervous, and I felt my heart crack a little. "I'm sorry…"

"Forget about it, Sora." I cut him off and took a few steps, completely ready to fly the rest of the way up the stairs. I didn't really want to hear any excuses or apologies. As much as I liked the Brunette and wanted everything to be ok, there was still that bit of resentment hanging in between us. And even though I wanted to make things right, I was too confused about everything to even try at that moment. Besides, there was a more pressing issue I needed to attend to.

"No, please. Just hear me out." His voice was so desperate and pretty pathetic sounding, actually. It was just like Sora to break down every one of my defenses, exactly like his brother did. I was clearly putty in the hands of the Strife brothers'. I swear there had to be some kind of secret powers behind their impossibly magnetic eyes that kept drawing me back and making me feel like giving in to whatever they asked. "Please…"

And give in I did. My will was non-existent when I looked into those sorrow-filled eyes. I sighed and walked back down the few steps I'd managed to climb. I watched as Sora peered up at me through his lashes, but I didn't say anything. If he wanted to talk I would let him, but that didn't mean I had anything to say, at least just yet.

"I'm sorry for…well, you know…for ignoring you and…" He averted his eyes yet again, and I could tell he was having a hard time admitting what he'd done. It reminded me that Sora was probably the most kind and sincere person I'd ever had the pleasure of knowing. He was trustworthy, loyal to a fault and definitely not the type of person who even slightly enjoyed hurting people. "It's just…everything is crazy, you know? Like one minute things are going so good and then…then they're not."

It was then that I realized that Sora was caught in the middle of everything too. He was smack dab, front and center, in a problem that had absolutely nothing to do with him. The only thing he'd done wrong was be related to Roxas, and that certainly wasn't a crime. I could only imagine what things were like on his end. If a nobody like me had it bad, it had to be ten times worse for the Strife family.

"Yea…I know." I honestly didn't know what else to say. I no longer wanted Sora to feel pain, and I hated myself for feeling that way in the first place.

"We shouldn't have done what we did to you, but…" He turned around and focused his attention on the yellow leash that was hanging on a hook by the door. He poked at it, causing it to sway back and forth. The action brought my attention back to the small, hyper dog that was running back and forth in front of the stairs, begging for my attention. I felt bad for neglecting him in the first place. After all, he was the one true innocent in everything. I felt the smallest of smiles grace my lips for the first time that day as I let my hand run over a course fur coat.

"I…I mean, _we_ didn't want you to have to be in the middle of all the chaos." I was so caught up in Vincent licking my face and reveling in the small feeling of happiness that was consuming me that I almost forgot I had been talking to Sora in the first place. He laughed wryly, and it was unfitting coming from him. "Obviously it didn't do much good. But you have to believe me. We were just trying to protect you, to keep you from getting hurt. You have no idea how bad things can get when the media is involved."

I patted Vincent on the head one final time and stood up. "You mean like what happened with Cloud?"

As soon as the words left my mouth Sora's head snapped up and his eyes widened. "You know about that?" His face scrunched up for a moment. "Well, of course you could have read about it and all since it was everywhere…but you know the true story?"

I'd never read about it. I never even knew the Strife family existed up until a few months prior, but I wasn't about to let Sora know just how cut off from the rest of the world I used to be. "Yea…uh, Roxas told me."

His eyes got even wider. "Wow, really?" He was silent for a few seconds as he seemed to be contemplating something. "Roxas doesn't even like to talk to _me_ about that anymore. He obviously really likes you." At first I saw the corners of his mouth turn up. I almost thought I was going to witness one of his famous smiles, but without warning, his expression turned a little darker, a little sadder, and somehow I just knew why.

The room became silent again, and the first comfort I'd felt in a few days faded away, just like that. More than anything, I just wanted to see Roxas. I had to. "Uh…" I got Sora's attention again and pointed a finger towards the second floor.

He blinked at me for a second, then I saw the understanding wash over him and he nodded "Oh…yea. Roxas is up in his room, which is…" and then the tiniest and slyest of all smiles graced his lips. "Never mind, you already know where it is, don't ya?"

And I smiled back. Not because I was necessarily happy, not because I'd forgotten all about the reason I wound up at the condo in the first place, and not because I knew that everything was going to be alright. But because if Sora could find the strength to smile after everything that had happened, then I felt like I could to.

I started to make my way up the stairs then stopped and turned back around. "Sora." He looked up from the small Santa figurine he was playing with. "I'm sorry."

And even though he looked quite perplexed by my unexpected apology, I just left it at that. I was remorseful that everything had turned upside down and inside out. I was regretful that I'd been the cause for the disarray that had been consuming us since the picture was released, and most of all I was sorry that something as supposedly pure and simple as love could be the root of it all.

I knew that Sora would figure that out on his own and no other words needed to be spoken, so with one final nod of the head, I turned around and ran up the stairs, leaving the brunette behind.

* * *

Even though I raced up the stairs like I was in a marathon and could see the finish line in my grasp, I slowed down considerably when I caught sight of the bedroom door because on the other side I knew there was no celebration waiting. I wasn't going to receive a big golden trophy that I could admire for all of my efforts. No, it wasn't going to be like that at all.

I wasn't exactly certain how things were going to go down once I made it into that room, but with the knowledge I'd been given, I knew there were two ways my meeting with Roxas could go: bad or terrible. Of course, if I believed in hope and miracles anymore I would have dreamed up a third scenario where nothing was as bad as it seemed and seeing each other would solve everything. But I'd become jaded and cynical again. Having hope was dead to me. Miracles never truly happened. Life just liked to play cruel tricks on you. It liked to build you up and make you believe in all kinds of fancy words and thoughts only to let reality set in and send you crashing back down to earth. I wouldn't let myself fall for that again.

Without giving myself any chance to have second thoughts I turned the knob and flung the door open. There was no time for knocking. I didn't even care about formalities anymore. I saw Roxas as soon as the door opened. His back was facing me, he was searching through his closet, and even though I couldn't even see his face, I could feel myself already losing what little nerve I had worked up in the first place.

The door hit the wall with a loud thud, and though I'd been the one who threw it open with such force, it still made me jump. Seeing Roxas for the first time in four days was obviously messing with my brain.

As soon as he heard the noise, Roxas immediately stopped whatever it was that he was doing and turned around. I was still standing in the doorway because I didn't have the will to move forward. Even if I had been able to, being held under the blond's gaze would have frozen me on the spot, anyway. His eyes widened, and it was obvious that he was completely surprised to see me standing there in his house, in his room.

We just stared at each other for a few seconds, neither one of us daring to speak a word. I knew what I needed to say, what I needed to ask. But looking at the boy in front of me caused every single, solitary word to get caught in my throat.

Before I could really take in what was happening, I felt arms wrapped around my waist and a warm body pressed up against mine. I might have been just a little taken aback by the action. Ok, I was actually completely stunned. After all the ignoring, everything I'd come to learn in the past few hours, all the time we had been apart, Roxas was right there. I was being held in his embrace just like I'd always wanted. He was finally close enough for me to touch again. Except it only made me feel even worse, and I couldn't force my arms to move no matter how hard I tried.

"I didn't expect to see you here." His voice was muffled because he had his face pressed up against my chest, and he tightened his grip on me. Just hearing those words brought back all the disappointment and sadness that washed over me as soon as my co-worker inadvertently killed all of my optimism.

_It felt like forever ago that I was sitting at the kitchen counter, digging into a bag of chips because I was too lazy to find any real food. Demyx, who had become a permanent fixture in my apartment, was sitting on the couch right next to my roommate. Zexion was reading, as usual. The man next to him was surfing the internet and being annoying by reading the titles of all the articles involving Roxas, his family and me out loud. Despite my best friend and I doing our best to ignore him by making random conversation about monkeys and toothbrushes and things equally as stupid, Demyx was as persistent as ever._

"I'm sure you didn't." My voice was so cold that it didn't even sound like my own, and I felt Roxas' body tense. "Why would you when you never even bothered to return my phone calls?"

I finally felt the grip around my waist loosen, and he stepped back. He stared at me like I'd just stabbed him in the chest and ripped his heart out, and I wanted more than anything to pull him back to me, to feel our lips touching once again, but I just couldn't allow that. Not then.

"I'm sorry." He averted his eyes nervously. "I was just busy."

I laughed dryly. "Right, busy."

_No matter how many times Zexion and I interrupted him, Demyx just kept on reading, and as time went by, it got harder and harder to ignore. I didn't want to know what people were writing about the whole situation. That was the exact reason I stayed away from the internet in the days following the picture's release. My co-worker wasn't trying to be malicious, he could just be a little bit naïve and unaware sometimes._

"Yea…" Roxas backed away even father, leaving a massive space between us. The gap was more than just physical, and it killed me that all I did was stand there and watch it grow larger. "The media has been all over us lately." He turned around completely and walked back over to the closet.

'_Cid Strife denies that anything is going on between his son and the man in the picture,' said one of the articles that Demyx insisted on reading. 'The father of the young heartthrob insists everything was just a big misunderstanding.' I was starting to wonder how long the three of us could carry on like we were because everything had gotten so chaotic, and I was having a hard time keeping up with what Zexion and I had been talking about in the first place. We were still mindlessly chatting about irrelevant subjects, but our conversation was starting to become just random statements that had no real purpose. And Demyx just kept going._

"So what are you looking for?" I didn't care, but I was waiting to drop the bomb, waiting to bring up the subject that I had been holding inside for hours. Truthfully, I didn't really want to bring it up at all, but I couldn't go on living in delusion.

Roxas glanced over his shoulder for a second before sifting through the clothes in his closet again. "I'm…uh… looking for something to wear."

I allowed myself to step a little farther into the room and shut the door. "Oh? Why?"

"I'm going out." His words were short and his voice tight. Obviously, I was getting dangerously close to something he didn't want to talk about. "Why are you here?" The words were harsh, and I felt like I'd just been slapped in the face. Roxas turned around and gave me a look of sympathy. "I mean, why did you come over today?"

I ignored the question. "So where are you going?" He didn't say a word and only reached even father into his closet. "Anywhere exciting?" I felt like a complete asshole for playing games with him instead of just coming out and saying all I knew, but I couldn't stop myself. The more I stood in that room with Roxas, the more the knife in my heart twisted, but I just couldn't bring myself to say the words.

"Uh, no, not really." He pulled out a shirt and threw it on his bed.

"So, who are you going out with?" That question froze the boy, and I was certain that he caught onto the double meaning behind it.

_About twenty minutes into his article reading, also known as torture, Demyx found something that actually stopped his incessant babbling, and I was glad. At first. It was weird to finally not hear that constant voice in the background, and I didn't think I'd ever been happier to hear absolutely nothing. I was content to sit there, shoving chip after chip in my mouth and reveling in the peace. Except my paradise of soundlessness was ruined when I heard hushed whispers coming from the direction of the couch. I sighed and turned around on my stool to see Zexion leaning over, peering at the computer screen. Seconds later his head shot up, and the look in his eyes was enough to pique my curiosity. It wasn't everyday that my best friend looked so rattled._

Roxas chose to stare at me instead of answering, and it annoyed me. He was standing there acting like he had no clue what I was talking about when I knew that he did. He knew that I knew, and he still wouldn't say anything. "Who are you going out with?" I repeated, trying to keep my voice strong even though I could hear it wavering just the tiniest bit.

_When I made my way over to where my two friends were sitting, Zexion closed the laptop, making me even more suspicious. It was a struggle to get the computer out of both of their hands, and Demyx protested against it profusely, but I didn't even bother to take heed. I figured it was just some stupid gossip site that was probably making up a bunch of stories about me, so I didn't see any need to worry. When I finally looked at the screen, though, I knew exactly what my friends were trying to save me from, and I wished, more than anything, that I would have just listened. The article alone was enough to shatter every positive thought I'd kept hold of, but it was the picture that really said more than any words ever could. There, right in front of my face, as clear as ever was Roxas and…_

"Naminé." Roxas looked down at the floor as he spoke, letting the hanger he was holding in his hand drop to the floor. And that was it, the final twist of the knife. It was exactly what I was expecting, but I could have never fully prepared myself for actually hearing it from his mouth.

"I…don't…" Words were getting hard to come by. I could either focus my attention on keeping myself together or making coherent sentences. It was obvious which need won out in the end. "Why…?"

"Look, it doesn't mean anything." He turned around and walked over to the window, leaning his head up against the frame "I don't even like Naminé, but I had to…I had to do something to stop things from getting too out of hand. I had to do it for my family."

I didn't say anything at all. Simple sentences had long since become too difficult to process, so I just watched, stupidly, as Roxas walked over to the desk that I was standing in front of and leaned back against it. "You're the one that I really want, Axel." He grabbed a hold of my wrist. I felt all of my defenses weakening just like they always did, and I suddenly hated how I was such a pushover around him. "We can make this work." He ran his hands up my arms and wrapped them around my neck. I felt like I wasn't even really there. My body was, but my mind was a million miles away. He pulled me forward and kissed the corner of my mouth, and it felt so right…yet so incredibly wrong.

"H-how…" I was barely able to breathe it out as I felt hands trailing down my chest.

He shrugged his shoulders and smirked up at me as he let his fingers sneak under my shirt. I felt his fingers dancing against my skin. I let out a small gasp, and he laughed, but it wasn't the laugh that always made me feel at ease. "We'll figure it out."

I swallowed the lump in my throat as he tugged at the waist of my pants. I was letting Roxas manipulate the whole situation. I had never felt so completely under someone's control in my whole life, and I was just letting it happen. "But what about Naminé?"

"What about her?" He took his hands off of me and grabbed the bottom of his shirt. Then, as slowly as humanly possible, he started to raise it. Bit by bit. Inch by inch. Revealing more and more of his pristine, pale skin with each passing second and effectively confusing me even more. He smiled up at me when he threw it off to the side. "She means absolutely nothing to me." I could feel my shirt being lifted, but I was lost inside of my mind. My thoughts were running rampant, and I couldn't stop that voice in the back of my mind that kept screaming at me that nothing was right and nothing was how it was supposed to be. "I don't care about her, she's just a distraction."

It was those words that finally got to me, and I started to feel even sicker than before. "Stop," I protested and batted Roxas' hands away, but he didn't listen. He just jerked my shirt up despite the fact that I was no longer willing to give in.

"We can do this." The desperation was dripping from his words. "Everything will be perfect."

The situation had gone from confusing and sort of hot to disgusting in the blink of an eye, and all I wanted was for Roxas to stop touching me. "I said stop." I grabbed a hold of his arms and pushed him backwards violently. He landed against the desk, and it banged up against the wall, causing the sound to echo all around the room. He winced and looked up at me like he couldn't believe what I just did. Hell, I couldn't believe that I'd done it either, but the more he kept touching me, the sicker I felt. I just reacted without thinking. I felt the immediate need to apologize and take everything back in any way possible, but there was something holding me back.

"What's wrong with you?" I backed away a couple steps while Roxas just kept staring at me, making me feel incredibly guilty. I would rather die than ever hurt him in any way. "Does Naminé know that she's just a tool in your little game? Or does she really think you have feelings for her?"

He pushed himself off the desk, still eying me warily. "She's not blind. She's seen the picture of you and me. It wouldn't take a genius to figure it out."

"Does she know that you're using her?"

Roxas rolled his eyes, and I noticed he didn't bother to look directly at me. "Since when do you care about Naminé? I thought you hated her?"

It was true that I disliked the girl because of her affections towards the youngest Strife sibling, but I didn't hate her enough to watch her being treated like crap. "She's a person, Roxas. Despite how I feel about her, you can't just do that to people. It's not ok."

"Well, I didn't have any other choice." His voice was raised. I just knew that things were spiraling down hard and fast, and as usual, there was no stopping it.

"Yes you did." I stepped forward and grabbed a hold of Roxas' shoulder so he would look at me again. But as soon as my fingers touched him, he flinched and jerked away like he'd just been burned. That hurt, and I stared down at my hand for a few seconds before speaking again. "You still have a choice right now. What happened to being the change your family needed? What happened to wanting to be normal again and not having to put on this fake perfect act anymore?"

"I'm going to tell my parents the truth." He picked up the shirt that he'd slung to the floor only seconds earlier. His cheeks turned a light shade of pink, obviously over the fact that he was half naked in front of me. Had it been any other time, I would have been more excited about that, but the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was stronger than anything else.

"When?" I wanted solid answers because without that Roxas' words meant absolutely nothing. He was already willing to live a lie just to please his parents. He was lying to himself, and I knew he was lying to me.

"Eventually." He slung the shirt back over his head and diverted his attention to the window again.

"So, that means after you and Naminé get married, have kids and live in a house with a white picket fence, right?" I laughed even though nothing was actually funny. "After you've been sucked so far into the lie that you can't find your way out?"

"No," he said quickly. "I'll do it soon, I promise."

"That's not good enough." I seriously felt like I was being left out in the middle of the ocean and Roxas was just standing there, right there, with the ability to reach down and save me, but he was just watching me drown. Watching the waves engulf me and not doing a damn thing. "You expect me to be some secret gay affair on the sideline while you go out pretending to have girlfriend, pretending to be something you're not, something you told me you didn't even want to be. I don't understand, Roxas. Why are you buying into this perfection crap all of a sudden?"

I saw his back rise and fall as he took a deep breath, and as soon as I finished talking, he spun around harshly. The anger in his eyes was undeniable. "It's not that easy, ok?"

"Of course it is. You just have to do it." I couldn't find the energy to be mad any longer. My shoulders slumped forward, and my voice became a barely audible whisper. "Please, just don't do this to me."

I thought he was going to give in because he face softened a little, but I was wrong. I was so very wrong. "How would you know what it's like to fix a family?" His voice was flat and emotionless. "You don't even have one."

He might as well have pulled out a gun and shot me in the face because I'm pretty sure that would have been a lot less painful. I couldn't wrap my mind around the spiteful and hateful words he'd just spewed at me. He knew how much my childhood had affected my life. Hell, it was written on my face, literally. He knew that I had a hard time talking about my past, and he used it against me anyways.

I stood there, practically begging him to save me from the heartbreak, and he deliberately hurt me even more. All the pain I'd been feeling, every amount of hurt I'd ever endured in my life was nothing compared to what Roxas had just done to me, and it was all my fault. I let myself fall. I let myself feel. I opened my heart completely, and it came back to bite me just like I always feared it would.

As soon as I was able to function again, I practically sprinted to the door. There was no way I could stay there in that room any longer and keep myself from falling apart.

"Axel, I'm sorry," Roxas spoke up quickly when I was halfway out of the room. I forced myself to turn around only to see the most heartbreaking pair of blue eyes I'd ever seen. And even through all the pain that those eyes had caused me, I wanted nothing more than to see them shine again. That right there was a true testament to just how deep my feelings were for the boy.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but I cut him off. "Yea, I am too." I stared at him for just a second longer before walking away.

As soon as I got downstairs, I saw Sora leaning up against the counter, like he'd been waiting for me to come back down. I groaned inwardly because the last thing I wanted to do was talk to anyone. I just wanted to get out of that house and…go. Exactly what I'd done earlier when I wound up at the Strife brother's condo. I wanted to run, and that's exactly what I did. I ran right by Christmas trees and huge drape-less windows. I sprinted past small hyper active dogs and spiky brunette hair. Even when Sora shouted my name and asked what happened, I didn't bother to stop. I just kept going. I kept going right out the front door and back into the frigid air and snow.

I didn't even bother to look back when I made it to my car, hastily opened the door and got in. I stuck the key in the ignition and started the engine as fast as I could, not even bothering to buckle my seatbelt.

Pulling out of Timber Greens became like a race. A drag race, and my only other opponent was one that I couldn't see because it didn't physically exist. It was a feeling in the pit of my stomach, a thought that wouldn't leave me alone. I was attempting to outrun something that I'd never be able to escape, but still I tried.

Once I was far enough away from everything, from blue eyes, and lies, and harshly spoken words, I pulled into some random parking lot of some random store in some random part of town and turned the engine off. I let out a shaky breath I'd been holding in since I left the condo and leaned forward so I could rest my head against the steering wheel. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying that everything I was feeling would just go away, but it didn't work, and I just wanted to scream. I wanted to do something, anything that would help me forget. Even though I knew I never could.

And then I heard a tapping sound. When I opened up my eyes and looked down, I saw the small golden heart that was dangling from around my neck hitting up against the steering wheel. My heart was beating in time with the noises it made, and suddenly, that tiny necklace felt like it was weighing me down and choking me. It filled me with anger and rage and sadness and so many mixtures of emotions that I just wanted to rip it off and throw it out the window.

But I didn't. I just wrapped my fingers around it tightly and started the car. I pulled out of that parking lot and set off down the highway again. I didn't know where I was going, but it didn't matter.

It took approximately five days for my life to unravel, four hours to lose everything I cared about and only seconds to learn, once again, that even badly broken hearts still go on beating.

* * *

**This chapter is a little shorter than usual but I figured this was a good place to stop because I already have the next chapter planned out.**

**Speaking of the next chapter, it might take a little longer than usual for me to write it because lately, writing has been a bit of a struggle. Of course, I'll probably say this and then suddenly get inspired and have it done within the week lol. But either way, this story will be finished. In fact, it's already close to ending. I think there are two chapters left, at the least.**

**Thanks for all the feedback and support. And I'm sorry if this chapter sucks. I worked on it a lot but for some reason it was so difficult to get the words out exactly like I wanted them.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

I'd like to say that things got easier after that horrible day at Roxas and Sora's condo. Hell, I'd even rather say that they had gotten worse because anything was better than the constant numbness I felt. The complete and total lack of feeling towards anything and everything was worse than any pain I could have experienced.

I'd survived, made it through storm, overcame the crash and burn. I still had a pulse, I was still breathing, but I hardly felt like I was living. I was more like a zombie making my way through a life that had once seemed so promising. I could still see, but the world's vibrant colors had faded, leaving everything dull and gray. I could still feel, but the cold wind that rushed past my face and ruffled my hair no longer made me feel alive. The sights and sounds of Radiant Garden were once again unwelcome in my eyes. Life had turned into something that I hated but had force myself through. It was such a drastic change from actually loving life and everything about it for the first time in ever.

I almost felt like I was starting over from scratch. Like I'd gone back in time to five years prior and was standing at my front door with a box of my things in hand, ready to put them in Zexion's old beat up truck, drive away and leave every single negative thought, feelin, and memory behind. The only difference was there was no running away anymore. There had actually been no running the first time either. Oh sure, I moved out of my house and tried to forget all about my childhood, but it was completely obvious that I never actually escaped it. It haunted me and affected every decision I ever made. So I didn't even try to outrun everything that had happened in the previous few months. I let it consume me, from every small prick to the gut-wrenching blows. I welcomed the pain, drowned myself in it until it was such a part of me that I couldn't tell where the hurt ended and life began.

Minutes, hours, days, they all passed by in the same long, drawn out way until they blended together making them impossible to differentiate. The concept of time became irrelevant to me. What difference did it make how many meaningless days passed by? I felt like I was living without a purpose, just going through the motions. I was breathing, blinking and moving just because I could, and not because I wanted to. It could have been years since that day at Roxas' house because it certainly felt like it had been centuries ago, but in all actuality, it had only been a week.

Seven days had come and gone, Christmas with them. A holiday I loved, a time of year that always brought me joy despite my dismal surroundings, yet it did absolutely nothing for me. The cheerful sounds of carols and bells ringing, the endless amount of holiday movies available to me at the touch of a button, the twinkling lights that decorated houses, lawns and trees, they made me feel empty. I still celebrated with Zexion and Demyx, if you call sitting on the couch and watching friends open gifts and enjoy each others company celebrating. But besides that, Christmas was just another day to me, just another meaningless day like the rest of them, and for the first time in my life there was absolutely nothing, not even one little thing in the whole of the world that could comfort me.

I went to work as usual, but even that wasn't the same. There were no longer any insults thrown back and forth between Larxene and I. Oh, she spewed a few carefully calculated words my way, but there's only so long a one-sided argument can go on. Marluxia was uncharacteristically sympathetic to me during that week, making sure all talk of the Strife family was off-limits. Not like he had to worry much anymore. The media circus had long since died down, at least on my side, and I was no longer the talk of the town. Journalists had moved on to bigger and better things, fangirls reverted all of their focus back onto the real celebrities, and I was once again just another faceless person in the massive crowd.

So walking into the bakery on Saturday morning, I expected a lot more of the same monotonous goings on that I'd become accustomed to over the previous seven days. I pulled out a hand that was buried in my jacket pocket, grabbed a hold of the door and swung it open. Exactly the way I had done the whole week. The bell chimed out, but beyond that, it was completely and utterly quiet. Now, I had gotten used to the solemn stillness that had hung over the bakery ever since my incident with Roxas, but there was something about the silence that day, alerting me that something was different. _Something_ was going on.

All it took was one sweeping gaze around the place to confirm my suspicions. Each one of my co-workers was frozen in place, eyes-wide, and one usually hyper blond was even a bit slack-jawed. My boss had a small sheet of paper in his left hand and was arranging a vase of flowers with the other, Larxene had her hands stuck in a cardboard box sitting next to the register, and Demyx was behind the sweets counter with a cupcake in his grasp. Icing, sprinkles, and sweat covering him almost completely. It was clear that I'd walked in on something I wasn't supposed to, and it was the kind of something I felt like I'd experienced before.

I focused my stare on the blond baker because I knew he would be the easiest to break. I unwound the scarf from around my neck, never once taking my eyes off of Demyx. I could tell I was making him nervous because he opened his mouth even wider and nervously shifted his gaze from me to our boss. He made a strangled sort of squawking sound, and Marluxia sighed before peering up from his paper to the devil woman across the way. Larxene had started moving already and was packing containers of sweets into the box. Everything was all too familiar.

"What are you doing here so early?" Marluxia asked, picking out a white rose and then setting it back in the vase in a different spot.

I slung my scarf onto one of the tables. Normally, I would have done the same with my jacket, but the atmosphere inside the bakery was entirely too uncomfortable, and I sort of felt like I wasn't going to be staying for long. "Ten o'clock isn't early. I'm right on time."

"Well, why did you have to be on time?" Demyx said. He sounded way too exasperated for something not to be awry.

Marluxia's head snapped up, and the blond immediately turned around to focused on whatever he was making. "Oh, is it?" my boss looked down at the watch on his wrist and forced a chuckle. "Well, what do you know?" The man may have known how to run a business, and he might have been sort of amazing with flowers and plants, but a good actor; he was not.

I narrowed my eyes and walked a little further past some tables. "What's going on here?"

My boss instinctively clutched the paper he was holding to his chest. "Nothing, Axel." He coughed, and I got the feeling he only did it so he could turn away from me.

I moved a few steps closer, and Marluxia inched to the side ever so slightly. That was the final clue. In all the time I'd worked at Wonderland Bakery, not once had I ever seen my boss back away from someone like that, especially me. "Then show me what's on that." Pink hair swished around as Marluxia lifted his head hastily and attempted to appear confused. My patience was growing thinner by the second, so I pointed at the paper in his hand and bit out, "That paper. Although, I'm sure you already knew what I was talking about."

"Stop being so suspicious." I heard that obnoxious, verging on disgusting voice sound out from behind me. I turned around, fully expecting Larxene to be sending a feral grin in my direction, readying herself for battle, but what I got was a completely serious face that only did more to affirm doubts. "Nothing is going on here, so why don't you just leave or something?"

"Leave?" I turned back to Marluxia, catching a glimpse of Demyx, who was looking more and more stricken as time passed. My boss didn't reject the woman's words; he only stared at me like he expected me to walk out the door, just like that. "I just got here…I'm supposed to work today. I don't understand."

"I'm giving you the day off." Marluxia averted his gaze, yet again, to his vase of flowers.

I laughed disbelievingly. "If that's the case then someone could have told me that before I woke up at the crack of dawn and made my way all the way down here for no reason." Despite my accusations, my words were lacking any kind of anger. I just couldn't bring myself to care. Waking up for work, not waking up for work, what did it matter? My days were pointless either way.

"Yea, _someone_ should have." Larxene glared over at Demyx. He grimaced at her words and shrunk back into the corner.

"I'm not leaving until I know what's on that paper," I said, planting my feet firmly on the ground and crossing my arms.

"Well, I'm sorry, Axel." The spiteful way my name slipped off of Marluxia's tongue was almost enough to make me feel something. I almost wanted to fly into a rage and scream and throw things and demand answers, but I didn't. The flicker of feeling burnt out almost as quickly as it had appeared. "But this is none of your business."

Regardless of my lack of feelings and cares, I wanted to see that paper. Something told me that I needed to see it. I couldn't quiet the nagging voice in the back of my head that told me that my co-workers were up to something I needed to know about. So going with my instinct, and without saying a word, I shrugged my shoulders and turned around on my heels. I took baby steps towards the door, and when I heard three identical sighs of relief, I made my move. I swiftly spun back around and sprinted back over to Marluxia, catching him off guard. I snatched the paper from his hand and backed up when he tried to grab for it. He didn't put up much of a fight after that, and I knew that I had won. Although, winning was nothing I cared about anymore. Looking down at the crumpled paper, I realized it wouldn't have been much of a prize, anyway. It was just some crappy list. I read the first few lines. 5 dozen cupcakes, three cakes: 2 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 4 dozen cookies. I ended there because I didn't have to read anymore to know what it was. I should have known from the very beginning when I walked through the door. Maybe if I could have brought myself to care about things anymore I would have seen it.

"This is a list," I finally spoke up, not taking my eyes off of the writing. "A list just like the last time…" I looked up, and no one had to say anything for the answer to be clear. "What's going on?" Technically, I knew what was happening, but I wanted to know all the details.

"As you can see," Marluxia gestured towards the list and then at Larxene, who was still busy packing baked goods into boxes, "we're catering a party."

"Yea, I got that much." My words were short, and I could almost feel emotions creeping back into them. "But whose party? Why is it that you are being so secretive about this?"

"The Strife's." My boss wasted no time in answering my question, and the name caused something inside of me to stir. "Now, can you leave so we can get some work done?"

"If you're catering a party shouldn't I be helping out?" Somewhere deep inside of me, in the darkest crevices of my mind and the deepest corners of my heart, I wanted to go. I don't know whether it be to torture myself, or because I thought going back to that house, back to the place where everything started, that things could maybe be fixed. All I knew is that I could feel something, faint as it may be, and the feeling desperately wanted to go to that mansion again.

"No." Marluxia cut me down and didn't even bother to show any mercy for doing so. He plucked his list out of my hands, looking at me sternly. "You're not invited."

"What?" I moved forward so I was almost face to face with the man. "You're telling me that I'm not going? I work here, don't I? Give me one good reason why I can't go!"

"I already did." He brushed by me and moved across the room to pick up the full box that Larxene had just filled with cupcakes, setting it on one of the many tables. "You're not invited." Just as I opened my mouth to protest, he turned around and held up a finger. "It's not my doing."

"What do you mean?" I questioned, and I noticed Demyx giving me a sympathetic look.

Marluxia briskly walked back over to me and placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's by Cid Strife's request." He gave me a pat before moving away.

Cid. By all rights, I should have hated the man. I should have utterly despised him with every fiber of my being, but I didn't. Sure, he might have been part of the reason why my life had spiraled out of control, and he definitely had his priorities in all the wrong places, but somewhere behind it all, I knew that he really cared about his children and his family. He might have lost his way and everything he was doing may have been completely misguided, but how could I fault a man who was at least trying to protect and do what was best for his children?

"What's the party for?" I kept my eyes glued to the tops of my raggedy old boots, waiting for the answer, but an answer never came. When I looked up I realized that everyone was trying their best to ignore me. I felt something exactly like anger rise up in my chest because, damnit, I knew they were keeping something from me. I didn't care why they were hiding it, I just wanted to know. "I said, what's the party for?" I raised my voice higher and slapped the glass display case, causing Demyx to jump, but he still didn't turn around.

"Oh, for Christ's sake, just tell him," Larxene said, sounding like she was losing her patience as well. She looked at both Demyx and Marluxia, who completely disregarded her then sighed in annoyance. "Ok then, if you won't do it, I will." She placed one last container of cookies into another box and finally looked at me. I didn't like how there were no signs of fight marring her features. She looked sympathetic and almost human, and that alone made me feel like maybe I shouldn't have asked. "Axel…it's an engagement party."

That was all I had to hear to make my blood run cold. It was like a dam had been broken, freeing all my emotions, and they came flooding back to me all at once. The anger, the sadness, the pain, they surrounded me, completely overwhelmed me, and I had to grab onto the back of one of the nearby chairs to get my bearings. I was feeling, and it was such a foreign thing to me after being numb for so long.

After the initial shock of actually feeling emotions wore off, I really took in Larxene's words. No names had to be spoken for me to know exactly who she was talking about. Wedding dresses, heartfelt kisses, children with blond tufts of hair and bright blue eyes, white picket fences, so many images flashed through my mind, and I felt like I was going to throw up. I'd given up, admitted defeat, yet there I was, feeling like I'd been torn limb from limb over the fact that Naminé and Roxas were going to get…married. That thought had never really crossed my mind even though I suggested it to Roxas just a few days earlier. It was just some far-fetched idea that was never supposed to be made real. It just wasn't supposed to really happen.

"They've only been going out for like two weeks. How can they get married?" I stared down at one of the red mushrooms that served as a table when I spoke. I asked the question to anyone who cared to listen, although, I wasn't even completely sure that I'd actually said anything at all. I didn't know if my voice was even working. Did I really say it out loud, or was it all in my head? It was half groan, half sigh Demyx made that helped me realize I'd actually spoken. And that simple sound coming from him finally caused me to lift my head up. He was staring right back at me, and I felt another emotion wash over me.

"You knew?" It was more a statement than a question because it was obvious that Demyx knew, and if he knew then Zexion definitely knew since the two of them were practically inseparable. And if those two knew, then the queen of gossip herself had to be aware of everything too. So three people I considered myself the closest to, the people that had been there from the very beginning up until the world came crashing down around me and even after the dust had settled, they all knew and not even one of them bothered to tell me.

Through all the other emotions plaguing me, the betrayal stuck out the most in that moment, yet I couldn't even find it in myself to get angry. I just cast one last glance at Demyx, just long enough to see his sorrow filled eyes. Then, without another word I turned around, grabbed my scarf and sprinted out of the bakery.

Once I got outside, there was no hesitation. I knew where I was going, and even if I didn't, my legs would have carried me there anyways. My heart and emotions were leading the way, and I didn't really have a say in the matter. I walked the few short feet that it took to reach the entry of the Smoothie King then without any uncertainty, swung the door open.

"Roxas and Naminé are getting engaged!" I didn't care who was in there. The place could have been packed for all I cared because I was running high on emotion, and nothing was going to stop me from letting it out.

As it was, the place was empty. The only person in sight was my best friend standing behind the counter. As soon as I burst through the door, he looked up from the register, and I could tell by the expression on his face that he knew I was upset.

"Axel…" He pressed one final button on the register before returning all of his attention to me.

"Where's Yuffie?" I cut him off with ease as I scanned the area for the sight of short, dark hair. I wanted to talk to the both of them at the same time.

"She's uh…" He jutted a thumb out in the direction of the back room. I wasn't used to seeing Zexion so tongue tied in my presence. Hell, he was never at a loss for words...ever. He loved them, worshiped them, spent every spare second of the day reading them, but there he was, struggling to find the right ones to say.

He didn't have to struggle any longer because at that exact moment the back door swung open and Yuffie pushed her way through, a couple of boxes in her arms. "Can I get some help here," she pleaded, and Zexion eagerly ran over to lend his services. Once the top box was lifted and the girl's face was in full view, she walked over the counter and plopped the remaining container on the surface in front of me. "What do you want, Red? I could hear you all the way in the back. You know, I don't think they quite heard you in Traverse Town, so you might want to speak a little louder next time."

When I didn't even crack a smile, Zexion halted in his actions of tearing the box in front of him open and turned to Yuffie. "He knows."

The girl froze for a split second before ripping through the tape that secured the flaps of the box shut like it was nothing. "Oh…" She pulled out a bunch of plastic cups and bent down to set them in the cupboard underneath.

"I know that you guys knew." I decided to speak again when neither one of my friends made any attempt to. "So how long have you known? How long have you've been keeping this from me?"

"We didn't mean to keep anything from you," Zexion said as he handed Yuffie a handful of lids. "We were just trying to protect you."

"Yea, and we haven't even known for that long." The girl joined in from down behind the counter where I couldn't see her. "It's only been like three da—" Her words were cut short as she let out a gasp of air, and Zexion jerked. If he was trying to be subtle, he failed miserably. It was obvious that he'd stopped her from speaking, but it was too late. I already heard.

"Three days?" I stared at my friend incredulously, and he just turned his focus back to the floor where Yuffie was still setting things up. Although, I got the feeling that she was hiding more than anything else. "You've known for three days and you never told me? You were just going to let it pass by without giving me the chance to do something?"

Apparently, I'd said the just right thing because my roommate's attention was back on me in an instant and Yuffie sprung up from her seat on the floor. "What are you going to do," she asked, leaning over the counter.

"Axel, don't do anything stupid," Zexion warned. I knew he was just trying to protect me, but his words filled me with anger.

"Stupid? Oh, you mean like keeping secrets from your best friend about something this major? Yea, that's pretty fucking stupid." The words rolled off my tongue venomously and with such ease that it kind of scared me. Zexion flinched as soon as said them, and I couldn't even bring myself to care.

Yuffie glanced sideways at my best friend, who looked considerably dejected, but she left him alone. "What are you planning to do?"

"Are you going to the party?" I asked, ignoring her question for the moment.

She peered up at me momentarily before grabbing the rag that was setting off to the side and scrubbing the counter top furiously. "Well, Kadaj is going and all…so…you know…" She trailed off, practically digging a hole in the surface.

"I'm going too," I said. Yuffie immediately ceased in her cleaning attempts and stared up at me, wide-eyed. I chanced a glance over at Zexion, but he was just leaning against the back counter and staring blankly at the floor. "I'm going to that party whether I'm invited or not."

She tried to hide it, but I saw the light fill up Yuffie's eyes. I knew my words had excited her. Anything that could potentially cause a scene or drama was right up her alley of entertainment. I'm not going to lie, I enjoyed the occasional spectacle myself when it didn't directly involve me, of course. So I couldn't quite blame her.

"Go for it." The girl eyed me for a few seconds before I saw her hands rise ever so slowly. Then, just as I expected, the rag she was holding went flying towards my face. When I caught it with ease, she smiled at me, and I actually had to fight to keep the smile off of my own lips. "Go get your man back!"

I threw the towel back at her as I turned to walk away, and I heard her giggle in delight. And even though my life had turned to shit and the light that was once so bright seemed like it had all but faded away into nothing, it was oddly comforting to know that some things still hadn't changed.

Just as I reached the door and right before I pushed it opened, something stopped me. "Just try not to get hurt." The voice froze me in place, and through the glass I could see my best friend's reflection as he walked forward towards the counter. "But if you do…I'll be there, like always."

His words tore through my anger and straight into my heart, and I felt horrible for the way I spoke to him. He, Demyx, and Yuffie, they were all just trying to protect me. They were always there for me when I needed them. They were just trying to be good friends because that's what they were to me. Friends. They were my best friends, and just that thought filled me up with a warmth I'd never let myself feel before.

I didn't bother to turn back around and instead opened the door, stepping out into the frigid wind. But before I left completely, I threw one word back over my shoulder, "Thanks."

* * *

Arriving at the Strife mansion that evening felt surreal, even more so than the first time I'd laid eyes on it. If I thought it was intimidating before, then I didn't even know the meaning of the word because as soon as I got out of my car and saw the house looming over me, I felt a shiver work its way up my spine.

Just beyond those steps, the steps where I first talked to Roxas, right behind the door that I stood in front of not that long ago where I first met Cloud and Kadaj, and right past the entryway that held memories of a devious plan involving mistletoe and cameras, something was waiting for me. Everything my existence had been leading up to, my future, my present, my life, it was hanging in the balance somewhere just beyond my view. Now _that_ was intimidating.

If I had been anything like the me of the previous seven days, I would have turned and left, walked away from it all. I would have determined the situation to be too far gone, unfixable, completely pointless, and I would have gotten right back in my car and sped away as fast as possible. But I had my fight back and God, did it feel good.

I strolled past the tons of shiny, new cars. I strode right up the walkway that was once lined on either side with the most beautiful flowers that Marluxia would probably have to be physically dragged away from. I marched right up the front steps like it was something I did everyday. And finally, I reached out and rang the doorbell with only my determination and will to hold onto.

I rang it three times in total, but after each soft chime, no one bothered to answer. I knew the party must have already started because I showed up late on purpose. I didn't want anyone to see me arrive. I'd been worried that I would be turned away at the door and sent on my merry way, but I never planned for there to be no answer at all. The more I thought about that, though, the more I realized how that worked in my favor.

I reached out slowly in case someone happened to see me and twisted the doorknob slightly just to see if, by some miracle, it happened to be unlocked. The knob turned, the door cracked open, and I halted briefly. At first, I laughed to myself at how dumb it was to leave the front door of a million dollar mansion unlocked while everyone was in the back yard. And then I looked up and thanked anyone that was looking down on me for my luck.

I opened the door with ease and poked my head inside to make sure no one was around. Just as suspected, the whole place was empty, barren and a little creepy. A big house like that just should not be empty. I shut the door behind me with as much silence as possible and walked into the living room. I got a weird sense of déjà vu as I took in my surroundings. Everything was exactly as it had been the first time I'd seen it. It was like time inside of that house had frozen.

When I was a few steps from the backdoor, I heard the noise coming from outside, and through the glass I could see people. Tons of them. Tuxedos, elaborate dresses, everything the last party was and more. I felt the anxiousness rising up in my stomach as I gradually made my way towards my intended goal. I had to force every single step I made, attempt to breathe normally, and more than anything, I had to focus all of the strength and force I had left on what exactly it was I had come for.

With one last deep breath, I opened my eyes and pushed the door open a crack. As soon as I was just barely outside, I instantly noticed Cid Strife with his back to me, addressing the crowd. All of the guests were sitting around extravagantly decorated tables or standing on the sidelines. On either side of the porch were the catering tables, just like the last time. I spotted all of my co-workers staring intently at the man who was standing just off to the side of the door.

I looked out at the crowd and found Yuffie sitting with the rest of everyone. Well, everyone minus Sora and Riku who must have been off doing movie star things. Weren't they lucky to be missing something as disgusting as that celebration?

"As you know, we're here to celebrate the engagement of my son and his beautiful partner, Miss Naminé Beaumont." Cid Strife held out a hand, and it was only then that I realized I had been looking anywhere but where he was pointing.

When I let my gaze follow his motion, my eyes landed right upon two heads of blond hair and blue eyes, sitting at one of the front tables. Naminé was wearing white as she always did, and even I couldn't deny that she looked incredibly gorgeous. I glanced down at my haggard old jeans and the jacket I'd had for ages, and suddenly I realized just how out of place I looked. I stood out like a sore thumb, and not just a sore one either, one that was completely diseased beyond all recognition. It's not like I'd had much time to think about what kinds of clothes one wears when crashing an engagement party of the rich and famous.

"We are so happy for the two of them, and I can't believe my youngest son is the one getting married first," Cid continued on, and I let my eyes fall upon Roxas for the very first time in what felt like forever.

As soon as I saw his deep, blue eyes, I felt my heart begin to pump rapidly in my chest and choked on the air I'd been breathing in. Apparently, I didn't have things as under control as I would have liked because, before I knew it, I was lurching forward to try and catch my balance and my breath. During the process of that, I'd grabbed a hold of the door and pushed it backwards, causing it to slam shut rather recklessly. I swear I heard the glass on the verge of breaking. After that sudden and boisterous interruption, things got deathly quiet, and I mean the kind of quiet you hear in horror movies just before the ghost pops out of nowhere. The eerie silence that tells you something bad is about to happen.

I was still bent over as the silence lingered on, too afraid to look up and see the outcome. I let myself breathe in and out slowly, and I felt like everyone could hear every little noise I made. I heard the clearing of a throat, and that finally made me realize that I needed to lift my head. I had to face everything. I'd come there for a reason, and I had to see it through.

So very slowly I raised my head up, bit by bit. I saw the ground and the expensive shoes setting upon it. I saw the tables and the beautiful dresses, the identical tuxedos, and finally I saw the shocked faces of every single person in that backyard. And let me tell you, there were at least a hundred people there. One hundred pairs of eyes staring at me, judging me, waiting for me to say something, and all I could do was stand there like some kind of idiot. Like a child with the worst case of stage fright.

I glanced over at my co-workers, and the face that caught my attention was Marluxia's. He was staring at me blankly, and I knew I was going to hear it from him when all was said and done. I switched my gaze to the table where Yuffie and company were sitting. The girl was grinning at me profusely, as was her partner in crime, Kadaj. Cloud and Kairi shared two identical looks of surprise.

Finally, I willed myself to look at that front table. Even from the distance I felt like those familiar, blue eyes were burning into me, but they were masked with confusion and hurt, and it killed me to see that. I took a step forward, focusing completely on Roxas and no one else. To me, there was no one else. It was just us. All of the people watching and listening, they were non-existent, they didn't matter.

"Roxas…"

"Just what do you think you're doing?" I heard the stern voice of Cid Strife, but I didn't take my eyes off of Roxas. He was right there in front of me, and it almost felt like a dream, like at any moment I would wake up and he would be gone again. "You're not welcome here anymore," The man spoke up again when I didn't pay him any mind.

I stepped forward again, completely disregarding the elder Strife's words. "Roxas, you don't have to do this."

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave." I saw Cid move out of the corner of my eyes, and I could imagine that creepy, calm look on his face as I enraged him even further.

"You don't have to pretend anymore." I stared at Roxas, willed him with everything I had to stand up from the table, but he just sat there, watching me make the biggest scene of my life. I reached my hand out towards him and pleaded, "Please just come with me. Leave all of this behind. We can be happy. I know we can." I tried to ignore the murmurs of the crowd, but it was near impossible. Every tiny whisper, every soft spoken voice was reaching my ears, and though I couldn't make out what was being said, it was unnerving just the same.

"You can either leave, or I'll have you arrested for trespassing," Cid threatened me, and I had no doubts that he would follow through with it. For the most part, though, his warning fell upon deaf ears because even though I heard the words, they slipped away almost as soon as I caught them, and I didn't care. I didn't care about his threats. I would have walked through hell and back if it meant having Roxas at my side.

But even through all of my pleading, my shameless begging, Roxas didn't budge. I was becoming more and more desperate with each fleeting second. I had to convince him that everything was wrong, but we could make it right, that as long as we had each other everything would be ok. If he would just take my hand…

"I'm going to give you one last chance." I could tell that Cid was on the verge of losing his false cool because his voice was cracking. I'm sure if I bothered to look at him I would have seen the rage settling on his face. It filled me with some kind of foolish pride that I was able to do what no one else could, what Roxas had so desperately wanted.

But that was the least of my worries. What I really cared about, what I really wanted was still firmly in his seat, and no matter how I tried I couldn't discern the expression on his face.

"Roxas, please…" I knew Cid wasn't going to give me much longer. He wasn't going to sit there and watch his perfect image of the perfect family falter. And besides that, my pleas were starting to get more and more frantic. I was probably the biggest horse's ass all of those people had ever seen. I was definitely giving them something to talk about at their next formal function.

"That's it." Cid was going to snap. How he was still able to hold it together was a mystery and, frankly, quite a feat. The man had some damn good self control. "Arrest this man."

Now, when I was told I was going to be arrested, I figured he was going to have to call the cops like everyone else and sit around waiting for them to show up hours later. I didn't give a second thought to the fact that my world and the world of the Strife's were as different as they could get because as soon as Cid called out the words, I took notice of the two men dressed in matching polive uniforms on either side of the patio as they moved forward, towards me.

"No, wait!" I begged as I was grabbed by the arms. I saw Cloud abruptly get up from the table. "Please, just let me say something."

Cid completely ignored me and motioned for the two officers to keep moving. As my arms were roughly twisted behind my back, I vaguely heard Cloud protesting with his father. I felt the smooth metal clamping around my wrists, and I was pulled backwards. No matter how hard I tired, my strength was nothing compared to the two men yanking me backwards, and that's when I pulled out all the stops.

"Roxas, I—" I was forcefully tugged backwards. I glared daggers at one of the portly men behind me before turning back around and making sure that azure eyes were looking at me. "I love you!"

Gasps sounded out from all around followed by that completely dead silence that made me feel like the whole world had just heard my confession. It was like time stopped and the world ceased to move as soon as those words spilled from my mouth. I couldn't believe I'd said it. I couldn't even believe I actually felt it. I don't think that I knew I did until I said it out loud. But I felt it. I did. I'd felt it since the first moment I laid eyes on Roxas and every single, solitary second since then. I felt it in the tips of my toes to the top of my head. It consumed me, overwhelmed me, filled me to the brim, and it never once let me go. It was an emotion, a sensation, a passion like I'd never felt before, and I couldn't believe it.

Maybe it's foolish to say that love at first sight exists, but I knew it had to because there was nothing else to describe what happened between Roxas and me. Some may say a few months is too soon to fall in love, but I felt like I'd been waiting for him forever. I'd been waiting for him my entire life. It was like I knew he was out there. I knew I loved him before we even met. There was no other explanation for what I felt when I laid eyes on him as he walked through the Bakery's entrance for the first time. There was no other possible reason for why he became the most amazing thing I'd never known I always wanted. There was something between us that was undeniable, and though the bonds that held us together were fraying apart and mangled, they would never completely break. We would always be a part of each others lives no matter what.

And as Roxas just sat there—completely still—watching me be dragged away without a word of protest, I repeated those thoughts over and over to myself like a mantra. I felt like as long as I kept thinking it I could keep the pain from overtaking me again.

I watched as the party got farther and farther away, the glamor fading from view, the crowd of onlookers getting smaller until they were just a distant swirl of colors. The mansion, like something so untouchable that I would never be a part of again and shouldn't have been a part of in the first place. But even when I was thrown in the back seat of the police car and everything was out of view completely, I still felt the bond that Roxas and I shared, and though it was an unbelievable feeling, it still tore me apart.

* * *

At the end of my first ever ride in the back of a police car; I wound up at the Radiant Garden County police precinct. I was dragged down a seemingly endless hallway by one of the ever charming and pleasant arresting officers. And when we reached then end of the hall, I was thrown into a holding cell by Mr. Friendly, who didn't have the courtesy to tell me his name before he decided to treat me like some hardened criminal.

Ok, so maybe I did technically trespass, but I was just trying to stop someone from making a huge mistake. I was only trying to conserve my already cracking heart. You'd think that I'd have been given at least _some_ compassion instead being tossed behind bars with a bunch of common gutter trash. Apparently, tending to broken hearts, let alone being hospitable, wasn't on the job description of an officer of the law.

As soon as the bars slid shut behind me and I heard the click of the lock, informing me that I was stuck there and at the mercy of anyone who would want to bail me out, I took a look around the cell. The place was pretty full of people that I didn't bother to give a second glance. I was sort of afraid that if I looked at one of them the wrong way it would be the last time I ever looked at anyone again. I mean, who knew what those guys were being locked away for.

I found an empty seat over in the corner, but I was hesitant at first to claim it. It was a bench, and on one end was an older looking guy that had his dark hair, minus the few gray streaks, pulled back into a ponytail. He had a patch over his right eye and just under his visible eye that was amber in color, rested a rather nasty looking scar that reached all the way down across his cheek to his neck. It wasn't really his appearance that was hindering me, though. It was the fact that he was constantly looking down at his hands and mumbling to himself, and if I had to sit next to a criminal, I wasn't sure that I wanted it to be the one who was obviously clinically insane.

But I had no choice because standing felt like torture, and all I wanted was to sit, even though I'd been doing just that in the car all the way to the precinct. So I made my way over slowly, keeping one eye on crazy eye patch guy at all times. I took the long way around the cell to the bench and sat at the absolute very end, to the point where I was practically not sitting on it at all.

After a few minutes of staring off into the distance, wishing I had never gotten myself into that mess in the first place and listening to the psycho next to me babbling incoherently, I felt someone poke my shoulder. I almost jumped out of my sort-of seat when I turned to my right and saw eye patch guy with his hand in the shape of a gun, pointing it directly at me.

"I can carve a pistol out of soap, you know?" He stared at me for endless seconds then pulled the trigger on his pretend gun. "Pow! You're dead."

I tried to resist the urge to get up and start screaming and reaching through the bars, begging to be let out. By some drastic measures, I managed to keep calm and just took a deep breath instead. "That's nice."

"So what are you in for, kid?" Eye patch guy blew on the tip of his finger, and I got the feeling that he really believed his hand was an actual gun.

"Uh…" I pried my eyes away from his hand when he had finally put it down at his side, and I looked anywhere but his face. I wasn't about to look some psycho in the eye. "Trespassing."

He let the craziest laughter I'd ever heard escape his lips, and I could feel myself tensing. "That's kid shit. Surprised they put someone like you in with the likes of us." He motioned to the front of the cell where three other men were standing.

He seemed to catch the attention of one of them who had long, blond hair and green eyes that looked like they were about to pop out of his head. Bug eyes walked over towards us, studying me with an intensity that made me uncomfortable in every sense of the word. "Well, well." He walked from one side of the bench to the other, never taking his gaze off of me. "What do we have here?"

Eye patch raised his hand up close to his face then pointed his finger in the direction of a passing police officer. "We got ourselves a trespasser here." He didn't bother to hide the humor in his voice, and bug eyes laughed along with him.

"Is that so?" The blond crossed his arms over his chest and bent forward just slightly. "Well, I just don't know if we can keep up with him, then. I mean an offense such as trespassing," he shook his head, "now that's a dirty crime."

"What are you guys in for?" I knew I should have kept my mouth shut, but I didn't have the greatest self control sometimes, and I was a naturally curious person. Not to mention, I felt the need to dare them when they were treating me like someone unworthy of being there. My logic was completely flawed. Committing the bigger crime and being worthy of being locked up was not on the top of my priority list, but I saw a challenge, and I was never one to pass that kind of opportunity up. "What did you do that was so bad?"

"Ah yes, well you see…"Bug eyes started out, but he was cut off when a guy with blue hair sauntered over with an ease and an air about him that just made him seem incredibly important. Besides his blue hair, he stood out because he had two scars in the shape of an X right across the bridge of his nose.

"Silence, number four." X face's voice was calm and serene, but it commanded attention. Bug eyes turned right around when he heard it and shrunk under the other man's stare. Apparently, he was number four. Whatever the hell that meant. "Don't trouble this child with things that are of no concern to him."

"I'm not a child." I don't know why I didn't leave well enough alone. I just had to go and open my mouth around nutjobs that went by numbers instead of names and talked to themselves and were generally weird. Not to mention, we were all in a jail cell, and they were criminals. They committed crimes, and probably not of the trespassing variety and more along the lines of murder.

X face regarded me for a second, and I almost saw my life flashing before my eyes until eye patch spoke up. "Of course you're not a kid. Trespassing ain't a joke." He aimed his finger towards the ceiling and started laughing like some kind of maniac. Much to my dismay, his two companions followed, filling up the whole place with the creepy sounds.

"That's quite enough, number two." A new voice dragged my attention away from the three men, and it shut them up instantly. No signs of the mirth that had just been plaguing their features were visible when the owner of the voice strolled over to the rest of us. The guy was ten times more commanding of attention than X face, and he seemed a thousand times more important, too, what with how the other three immediately shut their traps at just the sound of his voice. He had long, flowing, silver hair, much like Riku and Kadaj, but his skin was a rich caramel color and his eyes were an even more glistening golden color than Eye patch, or number two as he was supposedly called. As soon as he made it over to the small bench, he looked down at me and I wanted to disappear. He smiled, but it wasn't comforting at all. "Who are you?"

There was no way in hell I was about to tell those freaks my name. I did a lot of stupid things in my life, I was in the middle of one of those incidents, but even I knew when to draw the line. "I'm…uh…I'm nobody."

There was a flash of something behind amber eyes, and I could physically feel all four of the men crowd closer to me. "A nobody, you say?" Silver hair's lips turned up into a wicked smile. "We have just the place for nobodies."

I literally thought that was the end for me. Sitting in a holding cell completely surrounded by four insane men who were looking at me like I was their next meal, or next victim, and no way out. I prayed like I'd never done before. I thought about life and all the things I'd yet to do and probably never would. I thought about Zexion and Demyx and Yuffie, and how I'd never gotten to say goodbye. I just shut my eyes and waited for the inevitable end.

And then a sliver of hope shone through the darkness. I heard keys in a lock, I felt the lingering presences of four psychos dissipate, and I opened my eyes to see the fat police officer who had thrown me in the cell point at me before sliding the door open. "You." I raised a hand to my chest in bewilderment. "Yea, I'm talking to you, Red." The man rolled his eyes. "Let's go, you're getting out of here. Some poor sap just posted your bail"

I wanted to ask who, but I knew Mr. Friendly wouldn't tell me. To be honest, it didn't matter because one last glance over at four pairs of hungry, mischievous eyes had me fleeing across the door and back out into the sweet air of freedom before I could even blink.

I was led back down the long hallway, yet again, but that time with free hands and without the pleasure of being shoved by some fat, sweaty officer. The whole thirty seconds it took to make it down the hall, I kept thinking over and over in my head about who would be bailing me out. Yuffie and Demyx had been at the party, so they probably informed Zexion. But none of them could get the kind of money needed for my bail at that time of night, therefore, I immediately eliminated them. I knew that Larxene would have probably dropped by to visit and reveled in the fact that I was behind bars, but she'd never cough up the money to free me. And I'd pissed Marluxia off and made him look bad by showing up at that party, so he probably wished he was the one who put me behind bars himself.

I was running out of options by the time I reached the edge of the hall, and when I looked up to see who was standing at the desk, I was surprised to see that full head of spiky, blond hair and those unmistakable blue eyes. Cloud was my night in shining armor, and I could have run over and kissed him for saving me from a horrible fate…if I hadn't been so shocked to see him. He was one of the last people I expected to help me out. I never expected to hear from any of the Strife's again after the stunt I'd pulled, but there he was, leaning against the desk, waiting for me. Just like I'd never gone and ruined his little brother's engagement party.

When I walked out into the lobby fully, he looked up at me. I saw no signs of anger or disappointment. He was just a kind, familiar face in a sea full of strangers. I felt like he was my one beacon of hope in the darkened night. Cloud was pure at heart just like his brothers, and just when I thought I couldn't feel any stronger for that family, they proved me wrong.

He motioned for me to follow him, and I did. We walked out of the police station and into the crisp night air. God, did it feel good to be free. He led me over to his car, which was the most expensive car I'd ever been that close to, bar none, and unlocked the doors so we could get in. We did everything wordlessly for a while. There really were no words to say. I mean, Cloud had just bailed me out after his father threw me in jail. What more was there to talk about? I guess there was actually a lot to say, but the last thing I wanted to do was think about Roxas. I had enough time ahead of me to do that, and so far, with all the distractions, I'd been fending off the pain quite well.

Eventually, after we'd been out on the empty highway for some time, I decided to break the silence. "Thanks." I tugged on my seatbelt nervously. "For you know…uh…bailing me out and everything."

Even in the darkness I could see the blond shrug me off. "It's not a problem. My dad was out of line."

I laughed dryly and looked out the window at all the scenery passing by. "Yea, you're telling me." It was then that I noticed that we were heading in a familiar direction. "Where are we going?"

"I'm taking you home," He replied simply.

"But I need to get my car."

"Uh…yea, about that…" I heard Cloud shift nervously in his seat, and it made me uneasy.

I turned my head towards him, but he looked calm as ever, just driving along the highway like nothing out of the ordinary had happened, like it was another good old day in paradise. "What about it?" I got the sinking feeling I wasn't going to like what I heard.

He glanced over at me before focusing back on the road. "My dad had it towed." I felt like I'd just been told my dog died. It was the absolute perfect way to top off a wonderful day. I needed that car, as rickety as it was, and Cid frickin' Strife, who had tons of cars and limos at his disposal, had the gall to have mine towed. And I had to pay to get it out with money I couldn't afford to waste. I was pissed, but I didn't get a chance to voice my anger because Cloud started talking again. "There's not much we can do about it tonight, so I'll go and get it out for you in the morning."

I don't know why I was so surprised by his offer. Cloud had been nothing but kindhearted since I first met him. "You don't have to do that."

"Yea, I do." He switched on the turn signal and carefully watched the cars passing by before turning onto the next street. "It's the least I can do after…" He stopped himself momentarily. "After what my dad did."

For a while after that we just rode along in silence. It was slightly awkward, and considering all that happened, I don't know how it couldn't have been. But I didn't mind. I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts, anyway.

Witnessing Cloud's kindness first hand, seeing him so calm and collected, watching him drive so peacefully, you'd never know that anything so horrible had happened to him in the past. I couldn't see the broken sixteen year old who had lost all his lust for life. There were no signs of a guilty conscious or a boy who cried with grief every single night. He was collected, put together, totally and completely at ease with the world and his life, and it amazed me. I could hear Roxas' words echoing in my mind, and for the first time since he spoke them, I really saw Cloud for the strong person that he was. And I envied him. Sitting in the passenger seat of that car that probably cost more than my life; I realized that aspired to be like the oldest Strife. I wanted strength like his more than anything.

As we turned down one of streets that was a couple blocks away from my apartment, I found my voice again. "How do you do it?"

He turned to look at me while still trying to keep his eyes on the road. "Do what?"

"How do you pick up the pieces and move on?" We turned onto my street, and I could see my raggedy old apartment complex come into view. "Tell me how."

Cloud waited until we traveled the last few yards and parked the car in front of my building before he turned his attention to me fully. "To tell you the truth, I don't know all the answers. I don't know why something bad happens to one person and not the next. I don't know why life gives us things that we feel like we can't handle."

He stopped speaking, and I figured that was all he had to say. It wasn't quite the answer I was hoping for, but I didn't even know what the right answer would be. I unbuckled my seat belt and pushed the car door open. "Thanks, Cloud." I was just about to shut the door when he spoke up again.

"But I do know that things get better. When you feel like there's no hope left in the world—there is. When you think nobody's going to help lift you up—they will. And when you think the only other option is giving up—it's not. Life is unpredictable, Axel. There are ups and downs and all kinds of crazy twists and turns, but no matter how much it seems like it, you'll never be given something you can't handle." He looked down at the steering wheel and sighed before facing me again. "There's strength in every one of our hearts, power that we don't even know we're capable of until we desperately need it. So don't give up because you'll get through…everything. It may not feel like it right now, but trust me. You'll find a way to leave the pain behind. You'll find the light that you're lacking."

I just stood there for countless seconds, not even knowing what to say. He was right. Every word he said was the truth. Just hearing it from someone else, from someone who experienced it all and came out all the stronger, it instilled something in my heart. No matter how much I was hurting then, no matter how hopeless the world seemed there would always be something left to live for. There had been a time when I felt like my life was as good as it was ever going to get, but then Roxas came a long and showed me how much better things could be. I believed, and I truly felt happy. And if it happened once, it would happen again. My pain, no matter how devastating, would pass. It would become dull over time until it was just a far off memory, a sad time of my life that I made it through.

And I thought that to myself as I walked up the cement stairs, one by one. I ingrained Cloud's words into my brain as I dug around in my pocket and found my key to unlock the door. I kept them in the front of my mind when I walked passed Zexion as he told me that he heard what happened. I clutched onto that hope as I opened the door to my room and lay down on my bed. And I etched those words into my heart when, for the first time in five years, I let myself to cry.

* * *

**I knew that as soon as I said it might take a while to get this chapter out I'd get inspired. lol Anyways, I've been waiting to write this chapter since forever. I've had it planned out pretty much ever since I started this story. What do you guys think?**

**As always thanks for reading, reviewing, and all that fancy stuff.**

**:)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

It was the 31st of December. The eve of a new year, the dawn of a brand new start, and a cause for celebration. It was a day and night sure to be jam-packed with parties and fireworks and just all around merriment.

And it just so happened that on that particular festive afternoon, I found myself in the local grocery store with Zexion and Demyx, loading up on supplies that we were going to need for our New Years Eve blowout. And, of course, by supplies I mean every single type of junk food available on God's green earth or at least on aisle thirteen. And said blowout was actually going to be more along the lines of the three of us sitting in mine and Zexion's living room playing Mario Kart and shoving our faces full of snickers bars and tootsie rolls until we were all suffering from sugar induced comas. We'd just lay practically lifeless on the floor or hanging halfway off the sofa, the small twitches of our fingers that were wrapped around oversized game controllers the only sign that we were still among the living. Then, before we knew it, the clock would strike twelve and the brand new year would arrive completely unbeknownst to us.

That was what Zexion and I had done pretty much every year since we'd known each other, and that year was going to be no different. Minus the addition of a blond, hyperactive co-worker of mine. And, to be honest, I was really looking forward to gaining back some of that normalcy I'd lost over the past few months. After all, who needs big, fancy parties, all of which are attended by people better looking and more rich than you could ever dream of being, when you've got ancient video game consoles, bags upon bags of cheap candy and the company of friends?

Besides the obvious purpose of that specific day; surviving yet another year of the magical thing we call life, setting goals for yourself that are never actually completed and just roll over into the next year and waiting all night for a big shiny ball to drop, it had a more significant meaning for me.

It was a chance for me to start over. I was being given a clean slate, a fresh sheet of paper in which to write all new words about the journeys I was going to find myself taking and the wonderful experiences I was bound to come across on the way to wherever it was I was going. That simple day signified an occasion to leave every single scar and burden I'd been carrying in the past where they belonged. It was an opportunity to prove that underneath my cracked exterior and just beyond my broken heart, laid a strength that no one and nothing could take from me. I was going to prove to myself and the rest of the world that I had what it took to rise above the adversity and continue on with my life.

It had been five days since the big scene I'd made on the Strife's back porch that had, undoubtedly, become legendary among Radiant Garden's rich and famous. It had been over one hundred hours since I spilled my heart out to Roxas only to watch him disregard my confessions of love completely. It had been two months in total since my life had changed forever, and I was doing ok. So maybe I wasn't skipping around the apartment while humming show tunes, and I certainly wasn't jumping for joy or having the time of my life, but I was healing, and that was a step in the right direction.

And, sure, Roxas was still in my thoughts. I doubted that there would ever be a time when he wasn't at least in the back of my mind, and I still felt like somehow we would always be a part of each others lives in some small way, but I'd concluded that my life with him, a life that had barely been able to see the light of day, was pretty much over. I could do one of two things. Either I could crumble and fall like so many others with hearts too weak to go on, or I could lift myself up by the bootstraps and accept that it was just the way things had to be. I chose the only option I felt that I had, and that was to move on.

Moving on isn't always easy, though, and doing it in just a few days is even more difficult. I spent the day after my final heartbreak just moping around the apartment like a zombie. I literally could not see or feel anything. I was so bad off that I even agreed to just sit on the couch in my pajamas, digging into a huge bucket of cookie dough ice cream, and watching Zexion read for two whole hours. I think that was the point where my best friend knew that something had to be done, and he gave me that initial shove that I needed. He forced me to take a shower, change into my clothes and go outside into the world.

As I leisurely walked around the streets of Radiant Garden that I'd strolled so many times before, I realized how pathetic I was being. But it wasn't until I'd walked so far and came upon a rather familiar and haunting street that I realized what I needed to do. I didn't dare walk down the road that would eventually lead to my childhood home, but just standing on the corner, letting the wind blow past my face as I stared and stared some more, I could hear the screams overtaking my mind, I could see myself in the dark corner of my old room praying for something to change, and I realized that I'd gotten what I wished for. Things changed. I'd left behind the chaos of my home life and moved on to a better life. It didn't matter that I was just a simple minimum wage worker living in a shitty run down apartment with my best friend. It didn't matter that things hadn't turned out exactly as I had planned because I finally saw what I was never able to see before; that without even realizing it, my life _had_ changed.

I spent the next five days distracting myself with anything and everything I could think of. I attempted to learn how to cook, but that only lasted until I set the smoke alarm off for the fifth time and Demyx forcefully dragged me away from the stove. I played hours upon hours of Mario Kart, and by the time Zexion pried the controller out of my hands I was a self-proclaimed expert at it. I even attempted to read one of my best friend's numerous novels, but about twenty pages in I found myself bored to almost actual tears.

The nights were the hardest of all because that's when I had nothing left to distract me but my thoughts, and we all know that thoughts can take you to places you don't want to go. So it was during those seemingly endless, dark and thought provoking nights when I felt more alone than I ever had before that Cloud's simple words rang the truest and I held onto them the tightest.

Maybe I didn't have Roxas, and maybe I never would. It was possible that what I'd led myself to believe was destiny, a pure act of fate, was just a figment of my imagination. Maybe I'd never kiss his lips again or look into those deep, blue eyes. But, damn it, all things considered, I had it pretty good.

I had friends who proved time and time again that they would stick by me through thick and thin. Zexion, as always, was an ever present figure by my side. He never let me get too deep into something I couldn't handle without reaching out a hand to guide me back. Demyx had become a constant fixture in my life, what with being my co-worker and pretty much a permanent resident in my apartment. And with his bubbly personality and sometimes dimwitted behavior, laughs were never hard to come by. Yuffie had her obvious distractions. Being the girlfriend of someone rich and gorgeous will do that to you. But despite her new and exciting life, she still found the time to annoy me every time I walked through Smoothie King's doors after work, and I'd even allowed her to wheedle me into another shopping trip. I was obviously desperate for a distraction, yes, but I found that once I allowed it to be, shopping with Yuffie was actually a lot of fun and definitely worth her annoying yet totally endearing ways. And, to be honest, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

I had my rickety old car back in my possession, and I didn't even have to spend a dime to do so. Thanks to Cloud, who I deemed my most favorite person in the entire world. He dropped it off exactly as he said he would and brought Kairi along since he was going to need a ride back home.

I was so happy to see that faded, red Honda that I could have fallen to my knees and kissed it passionately as soon as it was safely in the parking lot. I could have, but I didn't. Thankfully, the common sense I'd had before Roxas went and messed with my mind had returned, and I vowed that I wasn't going to make a fool out of myself again. At least until Kairi and Cloud were totally out of sight. They didn't stay very long, and we never uttered a word about Roxas or the whole infamous engagement party. In fact, we didn't say much of anything. I knew that things were going to be weird after everything that had happened and there would probably be no way we could stay close friends after all I'd done, but we never spoke of that either. We just smiled and said our goodbyes. When they left, I watched them drive away until the sleek, black Mercedes was just a glint in the distance, and all that was left in their place was quiet sadness and a mournful presence of friendships that would never be.

I still had my job by some incredible miracle that could only have been accomplished by the hands of God himself. That's not to say I didn't get a verbal beating from my boss the minute I walked through the door for the first time since the colossal mistake I'd made by showing up to the mansion. Angry wouldn't even begin to describe the pure rage that radiated off my boss as he broke a couple vases and smashed a few of Demyx's precious cupcakes when he pretty much told me my life as I knew it at Wonderland Bakery was over. I'd cost him a huge client in the Strife's, and he promised to never let me forget it. His first step in keeping that promise was forcing me to take baking lessons from Demyx. It had been something I was supposed to do from the very beginning, but Marluxia, being the dismissive person that he was, had never made me follow through with it, until then.

I figured learning the fine art of cupcake making and studying the molecular composition of a thousand colorful sprinkles would be a cakewalk. Pun intended. Plus, after everything I'd been through in my life, what harm could it do?

I started the lessons almost immediately and it was, as suspected, a complete and total disaster from start to finish. My first cake was as flat as a pancake and burnt to a crisp, I never once remembered to spread the frosting in the correct counter-clockwise direction, and I'd accidentally put chocolate chips in my batch of sugar cookies. I was driving Demyx up the wall instead of the other way around, and Larxene was having a field day making fun of all my failures.

All things considered, my life was looking up, and I seemed to be well on my way to a brighter future.

The relatively small grocery store, located just ten easy blocks from my apartment, was unusually empty for a festive day such as that one. Usually, the citizens of my lovely, little town were packed into grocery stores like sardines in a can, especially around the holidays. Not that I was complaining about the lack of commotion, though. The less I had to maneuver through throngs of people who stood in the middle of aisles seemingly just to get on my nerves or the ones who couldn't detach their phones from their ears long enough to push their carts at a reasonable pace, the better. If there's one thing I hate, it's shopping in crowded stores.

We'd been in the store for over an hour, and that was mostly thanks to a certain blond co-worker of mine who treated our outing like a quest of epic proportions. Little did I know that taking Demyx with us on our simple shopping trip would result in my blood pressure skyrocketing and cause boredom to seep into the very depths of my soul. He ran down every aisle at least twice in search of every single thing we could possibly need for one night of celebration and more. His eyes were lit up, like every aisle we traveled down held all the miracles of life and he was memorizing them all. An innocent passer by, if there had actually been any in the store, would have certainly mistaken him as someone who'd just been set free from the loony bin. A grown man running through a grocery store and practically throwing himself on bags of candy? Yea, that didn't exactly scream sane. But that was Demyx.

When we reached the candy aisle, or what I now like to call 'the aisle of doom', for the fourth time, Demyx immediately set to work again. He took off ahead of Zexion and I, despite the cart being with us, and began to pretty much talk to himself while he gathered bag after bag of candy in his arms.

"We totally need some of these!" He grabbed an uncountable number of lollipops and threw them into our cart that was already overflowing with things I wasn't even sure how we were going to pay for.

"We already have enough," Zexion sighed as he looked down into the cart with a slight grimace on his face. "We've been down this aisle like three times, and each time you pile on more unnecessary candy."

Demyx walked back towards us and stood still for the first time since we'd entered the store. For a while he just blinked at my roommate, and the eerie stillness that fell over the place started to creep me out. "What is wrong with you?" Demyx finally broke the silence and brought everything back to normal. "You can never have enough candy. Candy is like…it's like crack, except totally legal and way more fun." With that said, he took off running again, face aglow as he scanned all the shelves that he'd searched through dozens of times already.

Zexion rolled his eyes before throwing some of the unneeded items back onto the shelves. "I swear…" He muttered under his breath as he sifted through all the bags of candy and junk food, most likely adding up the prices in his head. "I don't know how I even put up with him."

"It's nice to see you two acting like an old married couple already," I said with a smirk as I leaned my arms onto the side of the cart. The fact that my two friends liked to deny their obvious relationship, for God knows what reason, only made it easier for me to taunt them.

Zexion shot a glare my way before tossing a bag of malted milk balls onto a random shelf. "I'll have you know that we are _nothing_ like a married couple, and I take offense to that." I scoffed at him, but he kept on talking. It was obvious that I'd hit a nerve. "I didn't know I wasn't allowed to be annoyed by someone without being accused of having a relationship with said annoyance."

I laughed and pushed myself away from the cart. "My dear, sweet, completely clueless Zexion." I glanced down the way at Demyx who was bouncing in place and grinning like a total idiot. "When are you going to realize that I'm not as dumb as you think I am? It's obvious that you and the crazy quilt over there are—"

"Do you think we need this?" My best friend lifted up a bad of potato chips, effectively cutting me off and making the relationship between him and my co-worker even more obvious in the process. And me, being the kind, gentle person I could sometimes pretend I was, decided to let it go. For a while.

"You know what else we're going to need to get through a night with that?" Zexion looked up at me curiously, and I nodded my head in the direction of Demyx who was in the middle of singing a song about Twinkies and cotton candy, all the while gathering up more snacks that were bound to render him beyond unbearable to be around that night.

I turned back to my roommate and could tell by the expression on his face that he shared my exact sentiments. He moved back around so he could wrap his hands around the handle of the cart while I propped myself up on the front of it so I could stand on the small metal bar that stuck out at the bottom and hold onto the plastic rim. With one last sidelong glance at a completely oblivious, hyperactive blond and a curt nod to my best friend, he reeled the cart around and we took off.

It was like we were in a race. We flew through all the aisles, conquering all the twists and turns. It was easy to do considering the place was all but empty, but that didn't stop us from having a few close calls. Once, Zexion cut a corner too close, and we'd almost sent a tower of soup cans tumbling to the floor. Then, when we gained enough momentum, he lifted his feet off the ground, and we almost lost control and ran right into a line of shelves that would have most likely caused a store-wide catastrophe had we actually hit it.

We knew where we planned to go, but everything was passing by so fast that it was almost impossible to differentiate one aisle from the next, and I don't think we even cared that much after a while. Zexion was too busy guiding us and looking back over his shoulder to pay attention, and I was preoccupied with gripping onto the tiny edge of the cart, trying not to fall back into the thing and smash all of our food while at the same time hoping to keep myself from flying forward and meeting the floor face first. Not to mention, we were quite possibly having the time of our lives and creating a memory that was sure to last forever.

It was all of a sudden like we were little kids again, kids who had no idea what the consequences of our actions were, and we didn't care. Our giggles filtered through the store, and everything passed by in a blur as Zexion moved at speeds I didn't even know he was capable of. Though our escape had started out as a way to rid ourselves of an overzealous Demyx, at least for a while, thoughts of that faded overtime, and our cart adventures had become nothing more than a game, a thrill that sent adrenaline through my body as the sheer wind of our movements flew by my face. I felt alive for the first time in weeks, and it felt so good. I was on top of the world.

That is, until Zexion finally steered us down the aisle we were supposed to have been looking for in the first place and the cart came to an abrupt and screeching halt that sent me flying forward despite my best efforts to hang on. I heard Zexion shout my name, and I saw the world go flying by until my body collided with the cement floor. Hard.

For a minute I couldn't breathe from the sheer force in which I'd hit the dirty ground, but that didn't stop me from laughing so hard that I had to clutch onto my stomach to stop it form hurting too much.

After what seemed like forever of listening to mine and Zexion's raucous laughter until it all but evaporated and left a few gasping breaths behind, and lying on the cold cement in the middle of an aisle lined on either side with various kinds of alcohol, I finally opened my eyes. At first, the only thing I could see in front of my eyes was sparkling silver, and I thought for a moment that I'd died. But when I blinked and backed up a little, I realized I was looking at the most extravagant pair of high heels I'd ever seen, and unless Angels had an affinity for expensive shoes, then there was no way I was in heaven.

I'd spent countless minutes studying the footwear and losing myself in my thoughts, and I almost forgot that I was lying on the floor in the grocery store, in the middle of the alcohol aisle, right in front of someone who was important enough to wear shoes that cost more than my apartment. When reality finally came crashing down and the high of flying through the store on the front of a grocery cart had worn off, I scrambled to get to my feet, which unfortunately wasn't an easy process. I grabbed onto a shelf to help lift myself up and accidentally knocked over two large and expensive looking bottles of wine. I heard two separate gasps and luckily, thanks to my long clumsy arms that had caused the problem in the first place, I was able to grab a hold of them and juggle them back onto the shelf without incident.

When everything was back in its place, and after I'd taken the time to brush off whatever dirt had gotten on my clothes after my lovely stay on the floor of aisle 20, I decided to look at the person I'd unintentionally made an ass out of myself for. "I'm sorry, I'm not usually…uh…I don't really like to roll around on grocery store floors or anything."

The small girl in front of me didn't look the slightest bit amused as I struggled to explain myself unsuccessfully. She was wearing a huge straw hat and the biggest pair of movie star glasses that practically covered her whole face. The only things visible were her small perfectly shaped—probably thanks to plastic surgery—nose and her cherry red lips that had not once even formed the beginnings of a smile since I'd looked at her. She was holding a tall champagne bottle in her hand, and I got the feeling that she was judging me for all I was worth behind those gigantic shades of hers.

At that moment, Demyx found us, and either he was totally clueless to the fact that we had intentionally ditched him, or he was too busy losing his shit over the armful of candy he had just dumped into our overflowing cart. It was starting to look more and more like we were trying to feed a small continent with all the food we'd accumulated instead of just three fairly skinny men, and I couldn't help but wonder what Miss Thing was thinking about that. She was probably thinking we were the most pathetic things she'd ever seen, and she most likely couldn't wait to hop in her flashy red Camero that daddy paid for and dial up her friends to tell them about the losers she'd just encountered.

I was ripped out of my thoughts when Zexion and Demyx started to bicker quietly over the cost of food. I smirked to myself at the fact that they were furthermore proving my married couple theory. But everything came to a screeching halt as a small but very familiar voice rang out from behind me.

"What a coincidence seeing you guys here."

The lovers quarrel was cut off mid insult, Zexion in the middle of complaining about how he worked hard for the money that his 'non-boyfriend' wanted him to spend on useless stuff and Demyx protesting that three bags of tootsie roll pops were, in fact, very useful. Eyes widened, mouths hung agape, and I immediately spun back in the direction of the voice, unable to believe my ears.

Without wasting any time, Miss Thing removed her sunglasses and hat to reveal big blue eyes and slightly messy but still perfectly soft, blond hair. And if it was possible to die of sudden shock, I'm pretty sure I would have. I'd prepared myself for a lot of things— a life without Roxas and the fact that I was going to spend countless months on end watching Demyx and Zexion make doe-eyes at each other when they thought I wasn't looking. I was even probably pretty much prepared for the zombie apocalypse, should that ever happen. But Naminé standing right in front of me and not attempting to kill me? Yea, totally not ready for that one.

"I was going to stop by you guys' apartment after I picked this up for the party tonight." She raised the green bottle in her hand and smiled sweetly.

And I just stood there like a complete idiot, blinking and not able to find a single word to say. Naminé was right in front of me, and she was smiling. Her teeth weren't bared in a fury of unadulterated rage and she wasn't making a flying leap towards me, intent on clawing my eyes out and leaving me to bleed out on the floor. I half expected her to take that bottle in her hands and smash it over my head. But it never happened. She just stood there, amiable as ever, like nothing had ever happened, and it blew what was left of my mind.

"Why would you be coming to our apartment?" I saw the cart move forward out of the corner of my eye as Zexion took control of the conversation. Thank God for people who had their heads on straight, unlike me.

"Well, Kairi's father is having a party at one of his hotels tonight, and I thought you guys should come. Yuffie's going, you know?" She attempted to open her purse, but with one hand holding the champagne it proved to be quite difficult. "Can you hold this for me?"

She held the bottle out to me, looking up at me with her big, blue eyes, and I could just not force my arms to move. I was certain that my brain was about to malfunction. In a few seconds smoke would be coming out of my ears and I'd fall down to the floor, yet again, only that time it wouldn't be so pretty.

After a few seconds of Naminé holding the bottle out to me, me just staring back blankly and a whole lot of general awkwardness, Demyx reached out and took the item from her grasp. She smiled at him and started to dig around in her purse. Before my co-worker stepped back he gave me a look that clearly said 'what the hell is wring with you?' and had my brain been able to function correctly, I would have seen the irony of that look coming from a man who had just been running up and down aisles and professing his love to sugar.

I found it within my power to glance over at Zexion, but he was no help at all because he seemed just as confused as I was. So I was left to mull over my own thoughts and come to my own conclusions and, let's face it, that's hardly ever a good idea.

I was almost certain that the whole situation was completely made up. Maybe I'd hit the floor harder than I thought and jarred my brain around so much that it was making up completely false visions. I shook my head back and forth. I squeezed my eyes shut. I did a million things to try and make things go back to normal and probably only succeeded in making myself seem completely insane. But Naminé didn't fade from view, she didn't turn back into a cardboard cutout that had been set up to advertise something in the store, and I didn't suddenly appear back in the candy aisle. In short, nothing worked. What I was seeing before my eyes was the real deal.

Naminé dug through her purse for countless minutes, and I had a hard time grasping why it was so hard to find something in such a tiny bag. What is it that women put in those things? Eventually, and thankfully before I had time to start thinking again, she pulled out a small white piece of paper that was all decorated in shimmering glitter and had ribbons hanging around the edges. Demyx shoved the bottle of champagne he was holding into Zexion's arms and reached out for the paper. Anything with sparkles was right up his alley. He looked down at it with an awe that was completely genuine and opened it up. My roommate leaned over the blond's shoulder to get a better look at what was inside, but I was still too stunned to move from my place.

"It's an official invitation," Naminé pointed out, taking the alcohol from Zexion. "You need one to get in. Plus, it's got the directions on it and everything."

"Who makes these things?" Demyx's eyes were glued on the item in his hand as he flipped it over a million times and ran his fingers over the ribbons.

Zexion rolled his eyes, but Naminé just giggled softly. "I made them," She clutched onto the bottle in her hands, and my co-worker looked up at her like she'd just confessed that she was an angel sent from heaven above. "I do it for all the parties. What can I say? I enjoy arts and crafts."

"Do you like…baking?" Demyx narrowed his eyes carefully and waited with bated breath for the response.

Naminé looked a bit scared to answer his question, and who the hell could blame her? Demyx was a bit overwhelming sometimes. She glanced over a Zexion, and he sent her an apologetic half-smile. "Uh…yea, I make cupcakes for my friends all the time."

The blond male took a deep breath and pressed the invitation to his chest. "I…think…I love you." He reached out and took Naminé's hand in his. "We should totally bake cupcakes together sometime."

The girl squeezed his hand, and her bright smile lit up that store more than the fluorescent lights could ever dream of. "Ok…but you gotta come to the party!"

Demyx nodded furiously, and I could see his invisible tail rapidly wagging back and forth. He had found himself a new friend in the petite girl and would surely follow her around like a puppy.

"Wait." Zexion cast a worried glance my way, and if he was trying to be subtle at all, he failed miserably. "We're all invited?" He started to point towards me then apparently realized how obvious he was being and swung his arm back the other way like some kind of spastic idiot. "Like, I mean…_all of us_?"

"Of course." She let out a soft giggle and positioned her gaze on me. "All three of you."

And that was the exact moment of clarity in which I became aware something was askew. I had to have been in the twilight zone because there was absolutely no other excuse as to why Naminé was standing in front of me like nothing had ever happened and was inviting me to a New Years Eve party. I had crashed her engagement party and would have stolen her fiancé right out form under her nose, yet there she was, just standing there like all was right with the world and we were the best of friends. Never mind that I'd hardly even spoken more than two words to her in the whole time I'd known her or that I'd pretty much despised her since the moment I'd found out about her feelings for Roxas. Just what in the actual hell was going on? Who knew that freaky shit like what I was experiencing could happen smack dab in the middle of the local grocery store?

"You guys have to come, ok?" She never let her eyes leave my own as she said it. And maybe I was crazy, maybe I'd suffered one too many blows to the head, but I could have sworn that I saw a flash of something behind her eyes. The smile she had plastered on her face seemed to be waning with each passing second that our eyes were locked, and I couldn't get over the feeling that there was something unspoken behind her words. "You have to promise me that you'll come." The intensity in her eyes grew until I felt like I was going to have to turn away. It was as if Demyx and Zexion were invisible, like it was only her and I standing there among all the glass bottles. "Everyone's going to be there, and they'll all be happy to see you. So, do you promise?"

And I don't what came over me, but I found myself nodding my head in response and swallowing the lump in my throat that had appeared out of nowhere. Who cared if going to that party could possibly break down all the walls I'd been trying to build? One look into the eyes of a girl I'd decided months ago that I couldn't stand, and I was putty in her hands. There was just something about her, something in her eyes and behind her smile that I couldn't put my finger on, and I couldn't find it in my heart to deny her request.

When all words were dried up and the only thing that was left was that slightly awkward silence again, Naminé flashed one more smile at the three of us and walked quickly out of the aisle, leaving only the sound of a lone pair of footsteps and a strange air of sadness in her wake.

We stood there on that aisle for what seemed like forever, letting the stillness settle in and set up home all around us, until finally Zexion looked down at he cart had the sense enough to speak up. "Looks like we won't be needing any of this stuff after all."

* * *

At approximately eleven-thirty that night, we stood in front of the entrance to the Highwind Hotel located on Park Avenue. The building was huge and lit up from the first floor to the 105th. And as a true demonstration of how the whole thing with Naminé had messed with my mind, the only thing I could bring myself to think of while standing there was how outrageous their electric bill was going to be.

The party had started up at eight o'clock sharp, and we'd shown up way past fashionably late. That was completely my fault because even though I'd told Naminé I was going to show up, I didn't quite consult my brain or my heart on the matter. I spent five long hours of agonizing decision making, which hardly led to anything. When I would finally decide that I was just going to suck it up and face the music, I would get one foot out the door before I was running back inside and changing my mind again.

And it's not like showing up at that party was a simple decision. Ok, maybe for every other single person invited it was. But for me, it was quite possibly the difference between life and death. After five days of convincing myself and actually believing that I was moving on, I was almost right back where I started, on the steps of yet another intimidating structure that held something unknown just beyond its equally threatening doors. I was starting to wonder what the relation between my life and huge buildings was because every time I turned around, there I was, facing down another one. It was something I'd experienced way more times than was normal and It would have been almost comical if my stomach didn't feel like it was about to fall through my feet.

Demyx, Zexion and I just stood there, side by side, on the bottom step that lead to the entrance of the fancy hotel, letting the snow fall down in lazy flurries and watching the people bustle in and out of the door. Sure, we got a few curious glances, but for the most part, we were pretty much ignored. After all, on a night like that one who had the time to contemplate three weirdos hanging out on the front steps?

It was finally Zexion who spoke up after ten minutes, at the very least, had passed us by. "I think we should go inside." His voice was guarded and careful as he peered down at his watch. And then I felt his eyes on me without even having to turn my head and see for myself. "It's now or never."

He was right. I could have stood out there all night long letting the fear and anxiety of what would happen beyond those doors practically eat me alive, or I could show everyone the strength I'd found and take that first difficult step into the unknown. With a deep, elongated breath and a quick nod to my friends, I moved forward and we walked up the seemingly endless steps and straight through the door without a moment's hesitation.

Walking into that hotel was like visiting some place you hadn't been in a long time. A place that you could once recall so fondly but over the years had faded from view, leaving only vague memories in your mind. I had never been to that hotel before, but that didn't matter. I could hear the classical music as it filtered into the entryway from the lobby. The familiar sounds of guests mingling and glasses clinking as they were raised together in cheers reached my ears almost instantly.

Without even having to lay my eyes on the party, I could already picture the gowns and tuxedos, the glitz and glamor and all the friendly smiles. I could see Sora's million dollar smile as he walked through the crowd with Kairi on his arm and greeted everyone. I could envision Riku and that arrogant smirk of his as he flirted with the group of women who swarmed around him. I saw Yuffie and Kadaj cooking up sneaky plans in the corner and Cloud mingling in with the guests. And finally, and most clearly, I could see Naminé and Roxas dancing elegantly in the middle of the floor like a princess and her prince, their arms around each other while people on the sidelines whispered about how they were the perfect couple.

Just like that, I was taken back. It was like a time warp in my mind, and all around me I could see flashes of everything I'd thought I was over. Memories crashed down on me like a wave and like an ocean current, I was being pulled farther and farther away from the reality I'd worked so hard to perfect.

Movie premieres, Halloween night, food fights, cupcakes and skating rinks, late night confessions, first kisses under mistletoe, eyes so blue and amazing that I felt like I could die just looking into them, That voice that I could still hear saying my name.

"Axel…"

The voice sounded so real, but I knew it couldn't be because I was just imagining things. My mind was too far gone to know the difference between reality and fantasy, and I was only fooling myself. Even though I knew that, even though I was aware that things were over and I was just a sad man who was deluding himself, I slowly opened my eyes and let the room come back into focus.

The first thing I noticed were my two friends frozen in place and staring at me like I was going to spontaneously combust right in front of their eyes. When I gave Zexion a perplexed look, he turned his head towards the left, and I followed his gaze. Once I finally saw what had him so stunned, I felt like my heart was going to stop.

Roxas was standing there in the middle of the doorway and staring right at me. Our eyes met for a split second ,and that was all it took for me to turn on my heels and run for the exit. I didn't even bother to inform my friends where I was going because I wasn't even sure myself. I just moved as if my life depended on it, no matter what was in my way. I stumbled over a rug, knocked over a chair, and nearly killed and innocent couple during my sprint to the door, but not even any of those obstacles could slow me down. I was going to get out of that building and as far away from that party as possible no matter what.

I ignored the delayed calls of Zexion and Demyx as I flung the door open and felt a gust of cold December wind assault my body. I completely disregarded that familiar voice shouting my name as I flew down the steps five at time until I was on flat ground, and I didn't even slow my pace as I took off down the sidewalk against the wind and snow that all of a sudden seemed a lot less forgiving and a lot more of a hindrance.

I heard the door open then shut again, and I was completely aware of the presence of rapid footsteps behind me, but I just kept going. As long as I was moving, as long as my feet were running across the icy sidewalk the night hadn't happened, and I was still ok. There was no way I was going to stop and face everything, not again. As I found the last bits of strength in my legs to carry me a few more feet down the sidewalk, I cursed myself for allowing Naminé and my own weak mind to talk me into going to that party in the first place. I knew from the moment I saw the girl in the store that everything was going to come crumbling down again, and I hated myself for making such a big mistake.

"Axel, please stop!"

I heard the voice, it rang out loud and clear even over the excitement of the city and the fireworks that were shooting off up above us. I wanted to keep going, I tried to force my legs to keep moving, but they felt like they were going to fall off. Everything was catching up with me—the fact that I was the least athletic person I knew, the wind beating me down with every pitiful stride I attempted to make, the snow falling into my lashes and practically blinding me, almost making me run headfirst into a stop sign. I had a choice to either try and keep going until I fell down to the frozen earth, practically dead—or to simply stop.

I don't know when my life had decided to become one big mess of impossible decisions, but if it was supposed to be some sort of joke, I was far from laughing. Despite what I wanted to do, my feet eventually ceased all movement on their own. I slumped over in defeat, trying desperately to catch my breath and waiting to find out just how many cracks a heart can take before it's deemed unfixable.

The footsteps that had been trailing behind me for what felt like miles but was only a few blocks, slowed down just like I knew they would. I heard the ragged breaths, and I took a small comfort in the fact that at least I wasn't the only one worn out by a couple minutes of vigorous activity.

Even though I knew just who was behind me, I didn't turn around. To stop running from something was one thing, but to actually face it? That was a whole other story entirely. That was a story made up of hundreds of thousands of words that I just did not feel like even starting. I was never much of a reader, anyway.

"Axel, please I need to talk to you," Roxas finally spoke up after countless moments of trying to catch his breath, and apparently my heart had a mind of its own because it started pounding rapidly. Not that it wasn't already beating a mile a minute from the sprint I'd just participated in, but as soon as I heard that voice, it was well on its way to exploding.

"I can't do this right now, Roxas." And that was the truth. If I wanted to keep any of the strength I'd worked up over the past few days I just needed him to turn around and walk away. There was no way I could listen to his voice, let alone look into those eyes, as he told me all about his new life with Naminé and live to tell about it.

A lingering stillness hung over us as I kept my back to the boy and watched all the people walking by. There were tons of them, friends, family, lovers, all walking hand in hand and smiling and laughing and telling jokes. They were all so filled with the joy and thrills of a brand new year that was mere minutes away, and I was just standing there like a complete outsider who was on the verge of collapse. I'm not sure if I ever felt more out of place than I did on that busy sidewalk.

I wasn't even sure that Roxas had heard me until he spoke up again. "I'm going to talk to you whether you want me to or not." His voice was firm and unwavering, but somewhere underneath I could hear the uncertainty.

And as soon as he said it, I wanted to turn around and punch him the face. I wanted to break him down so he would know just what it felt like when your heart was completely smashed but kept on beating. But more than anything, I wanted to wrap my arms around him and breathe him in. I wanted to feel his lips against mine once again I wanted to lace out fingers together and walk merrily along the sidewalk like everyone else. I had to stop myself from getting on my hands and knees and begging him stay with me. I'd come too far to resort back to those pathetic ways, and I hated myself for even thinking it. I didn't want to think about how weak I really was, how my existence in the world seemed to rely on someone else for the first time in my life.

"Please." I pressed the palms of my shaking hands into my eyes. It was a simple action, but one with so many purposes. I was trying desperately to stop the hot sting of tears that I felt forming behind my eyes, and it was a useless attempt to make everything go away. "Just stop talking."

Apparently, the desperate pleas of a broken man meant nothing to Roxas because he just kept on going. Honestly, that was no surprise. It was a trait in the boy that I'd grown to love. Only, in that moment, I was despising it. "No, I can't. I have to make things right." He let out a shaky sigh, which was the first clear sign that he was having as hard of a time as I was. "The engagement is off. I…I called it off."

I could tell that Roxas was hoping that those words would make everything ok again and, damn, how I wish they did. But how could things as simple as a few words strung together take back all the hurt and the betrayal I'd felt? How could they just make me forget?

It was funny how five days ago, hearing that sentence out of his mouth would have melted away all of the pain and sorrow. How could things have changed so quickly? I'm not saying hearing that Roxas and Naminé weren't getting married wasn't a least a small weight lifted off of my shoulders. I still felt the slight happiness swelling up in my stomach, but I just didn't feel like it was enough anymore.

"Not all things that are broken can be mended so easily."

"Maybe they can't be fixed easily," Roxas was quick to answer back. His raised voice caused a few curious glances to be thrown our way, but that didn't stop him. "But they can still be fixed." I heard the footsteps behind me moving again. Slowly but surly the soles of his shoes scuffled across the snowy pavement, and the next time I heard his voice it was much closer. "Look, I told my parents the truth. I told them about us, about how our family had changed so much and how I just couldn't stand it anymore. My dad got mad, like he actually got angry and yelled at me, raged and threw things."

"Sounds like a success." I knew exactly what that meant for Roxas, but I just couldn't bring myself to acknowledge it out loud. Instead I just I lowered my head and watched the snow land in piles around my feet.

"But don't you see? It really was a success." I could hear the happiness in his voice, and I could feel my anguish very slowly melting away without my consent. "He stopped pretending to be perfect for once. The mask finally came off. And maybe it's going to take a while for things to get completely back to normal, but I think he finally sees what I was talking about. Do you know what that means?"

I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets and shrugged. Somewhere inside I felt happy for him, possibly even elated, but those emotions were buried under the pain that was still lingering. "What?" I pretended like I had no idea what it meant. Maybe I wanted to seem detached from the whole situation, but somewhere deep inside I'm pretty sure I just wanted to keep listening to his voice.

"It means that even the most seemingly hopeless of situations can be mended. Maybe not all at once because some things take time, but that doesn't mean you just give up on something you know is right." The footsteps started up again and didn't stop until I could practically feel the heat radiating off of his body as it was almost pressed up against mine.

My defenses were shutting down one by one, and even though I tried to stop them from doing so, I couldn't. I didn't want to, but I turned my head just slightly so I could glance over my shoulder, and I couldn't ignore the shiver that worked its way up my spine when I saw that spiky, disheveled blond hair.

"You're the one who told me I had a chance to fix things with my family and not to let it pass me by, right? Well, I almost did, and in the process I lost something else really important to me. I'm not going to let it go again." Roxas' voice was tearing down the walls with the greatest of ease. The more he spoke, the harder it was to recognize the pain I'd become so familiar with.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, and I'm probably going to make a million more, but mistakes aren't a reason to throw things away." All of a sudden I felt his arms wrap around my waist, his chest pressing into my back, and I went completely and utterly still. I sucked in my breath and kept it there because I was afraid if I let it out, if I moved even the slightest bit, everything would fade away and reality would pop back out, laughing at me while it shouted: 'haha just kidding!'

"All I've ever wanted in my life is to feel normal, and you do that for me, Axel. You make me feel normal and crazy and out of control, all at the same time, like I've never felt before." I was surprised my heart was still beating because Roxas holding onto me, feeling his chest rise and fall with his rapid breaths, was something I'd never expected to feel again

"And I know that all you want is for someone to love you, to show what love truly means, and I can do that for you.,"Roxas said into the fabric of my jacket, and I felt his grip on me tighten. "I promise I can. Because I already love you, Axel. I love you like I've never loved anyone in my life, and I'm just…I'm sorry my weakness caused you even more pain."

It was strange how the world kept moving, people continued to stroll by arm in arm, laughing and enjoying each others company, the fireworks kept exploding in the sky one after the other, and the hands on the clock just kept ticking by, completely unaware of Roxas and I standing in the middle of a frozen sidewalk with our hearts and emotions bared for all to see. Life just kept moving forward like it always had, just like it did when I left my parents house and exactly like it did when I thought Roxas was out of my life for good.

And it was in that exact moment that I realized how truly amazing life really was. One minute you can feel like you're at the end of your rope and the next you're flying above the clouds. It's amazing how in an instant life can change so drastically. I'd been through hell pretty much my whole life. I was struggling to make it through every day, and that whole time the one person I never knew I needed was just a few miles away, facing a few demons of his own. In a world full of millions we were just two small, insignificant people, yet somehow we'd found each other. And that was a true miracle.

I finally started to breathe again, and I lifted my trembling hand so it was resting one of Roxas' arms. I wasn't sure what it meant, but it felt like the right thing to do, and before I knew it I felt a true smile forming on my face. I pulled myself out of Roxas' grasp, and for the first time that night, the first time in five days, I looked down at his beautiful face as the fireworks lit up the sky. And it felt like the first time ever.

Neither one of us spoke a word as I pulled him into an embrace so strong I was surprised he could breath. He wrapped his arms back around me, and just like that, I felt all the pain and suffering slipping away like drops of harsh rain sliding down a window pane.

I wanted our embrace to last forever,or at least much longer than a couple minutes, but apparently that was too much to wish for. I already had Roxas back, and I guess that was enough of a wish fulfillment. For one night, at least.

The boy in my arms pushed me away quickly and peered at something over my shoulder. When his eyes widened and a flash of panic spread over his face, I turned around to see just what he was looking at. I was greeted with a huge tower and a clock on the very top. I turned back around to Roxas and sent him a curious glance.

"It's almost midnight," He was quick to answer my unspoken question.

I raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Yea…and?"

"We have to get back to the party before then."

"Why do we have to go back?" He was acting so curious, and I couldn't help but wonder just exactly what was going on in that mind of his. Besides, I kinda wanted to stay outside under the fireworks for a little longer.

"We just do, ok?" He reached out his hand towards me, and I just stared back at him. "Take my hand."

All I had to do was take one glance into his pleading eyes, and without anymore hindrance, I grabbed his hand. The moment our skin touched, I felt like the bonds that were once on the verge of destruction were firmly back in place. I knew that Roxas felt it too because despite his previous hurried actions, he lingered in place for a minute just staring back at me.

Then, before I really had the time to register anything, I was being yanked forward forcefully, and I had to keep my mind on moving my feet in pace with Roxas who was practically flying down the sidewalk that we'd traveled over just minutes earlier.

We sprinted over snow covered pavement, hand in hand as the fireworks lit up the sky in a multitude of colors. We weaved through the crowds in front of the hotel and in the entryway, quite like Zexion and I had done in the grocery store earlier. I felt that same adrenaline entering my body again, except with Roxas' hand in mine it was ten times more intense.

We crashed through the lobby doors, and just like that, all eyes were on us. I'm sure we were quite a sight, all windswept hair and rosy cheeks. We had less than two minutes until the clock struck twelve and the new year started with or without whatever Roxas had planned, and he was quite aware of that because he gave the party goers, nor I, any time to come to terms with anything.

We ran through the crowds of people, many of whom looked upon us with knowing eyes. No doubt, the majority of the people there were also at the engagement party and saw what happened. And there they were, witnessing another spectacle created by Roxas and me. If nothing else, we were certainly the most exciting pair the wealthy and glamorous of Radiant Garden had ever seen.

As most everyone passed by in a blur, I was able to make out some familiar faces in the crowd. We passed by Kairi and Sora in an instant, but I still saw the identical all-knowing smiles on their faces. Yuffie and Kadaj were sitting at a rapidly passing table, smirking and cheering Roxas and I on like they were spectators at a football game. The last face I made out before we came to an abrupt stop was Naminé's

I suddenly realized exactly what I had seen behind her eyes earlier in the store—she was heartbroken, but she had still invited me to the party and pleaded with me to show up. She smiled at me softly, and I just knew that she'd planned the whole thing. Her heart had been shattered, yet all she did was think about others, she thought about me. And I felt like the biggest piece of shit on the planet.

I'd spent months on end hating the girl for no reason other than because she had feelings for Roxas. I'd never talked to her because I was too busy wallowing in my jealousy to see the girl behind all my dislike. I'd prided myself on seeing people for who they truly are, but I'd failed when it came to Naminé. I'd done nothing but despise and belittle her in my mind every chance I got, and there she was, practically handing Roxas—someone I could tell she truly loved—back to me. I knew that if the shoe had been on the other foot, I wouldn't have been strong enough to do the same, and I felt my admiration and respect for her grow.

I wanted to do something, to thank her, to apologize, to give her the biggest hug I could muster, but my eyes and attention were pried away when I felt my arm being tugged upwards. I looked up to see Roxas standing on top of one of the beautifully decorated tables in the middle of the room. "Hurry."

I glanced around the room at all the pairs of eyes that were still trained on us and gave the boy a look of disbelief. "What are you doing?" The Roxas I knew was anything but spontaneous and attention seeking, but he was proving me wrong with his actions.

He grinned and gave my arm another forceful tug. "You'll never know if you don't get up on top of this table with me." And when I looked at that smile, standing up on top of a table—covered in a cloth that probably cost more than my life—in a room full of people who all prided themselves on class and elegance had never seemed more normal.

I stepped up on top of the thing with an incredible ease, thanks to my long legs, just as the crowd started to count down to the new year. "This is crazy," I laughed as I straightened myself up and looked out at the party I was towering over. I caught sight of Demyx and Zexion. The former gave me a thumbs up while my best friend wrapped his arm around the blond.

"I thought we already established that you and I are totally and completely nuts?" Roxas drew my attention back to him as he grabbed the front of my jacket and lifted himself up by the tips of his toes.

"_...five, four, three_"

I smiled back at him and bent over so our lips were almost touching. "Yea, I guess we did."

"_...two, one…Happy New Year_"

The crowd erupted into fits of screams and cheers and right on cue, our lips crashed together. It was almost a surreal experience. I could feel the confetti falling down all around us, in my hair, and on my face as Roxas deepened the kiss by wrapping his arms around my neck and pulling me forward, and I couldn't help the smile that grew on my lips. I felt Roxas' lips quirk upwards into a smile too, and before I knew it we had to break apart because we were both laughing.

And I reveled in that, in everything, the laughter, the closeness, the indescribable feeling of pure joy, the total bizarreness of the whole night. It was like nothing I'd ever felt before, and I was sure I would certainly never feel quite that way again.

When our laughter had calmed and I was finally able to catch my breath, I spoke up again. "So why exactly were we up here?"

Roxas rolled his eyes like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world and he was annoyed that he had to inform someone as dumb as me. I'd missed that. "Because I wanted everyone to see. I wanted to show the world that I love you, and I always will. And they're just going to have to accept that."

Without a word in response, I grabbed a hold of his chin and pulled him back into another kiss. I was just about to open my mouth and stick my tongue down his throat in front of God and everyone—and in a room that, somewhere, held Roxas' parents when, as per usual, we were interrupted.

"Are you guys seriously going to go at it again?" I broke apart from the boy in front of me and stared down at the familiar smug face of Riku.

"Yea, I mean, let's try to keep things G- rated," Sora chimed in as he smiled up at his brother and me.

"Or, you know, you guys could get a room seeing as we're in a hotel and all." Kairi swung her hands around for emphasis.

"Ohh, if that really happens then we gotta spy on them. I mean, after all, Kairi's dad owns this hotel, so it shouldn't be that hard to swipe the key. And I am pretty crafty, if I do say so myself," Yuffie boasted, and our little group of friends went silent. "You guys are no fun! No fun at all!"

The laughter started up again, and Kadaj wrapped his arm around the small raven-haired girl, pulling her back in an embrace. Yuffie jumped up and planted a kiss on his cheek. That simple action started a chorus of 'awws' and sent Cloud on a spiel about how weird it was to see his best friend acting like he had normal, human feelings.

By that time, Roxas and I had our feet planted on the floor again, and that's when I noticed Naminé standing off to the side, covering her mouth as light airy giggles escaped. When she stopped laughing and caught me in the middle my obvious staring, we just held each others gaze. Something passed between us in those short, few moments. Something that felt a lot like respect and understanding and I wanted to keep it between us, like a secret only the two of us shared. Eventually I mouthed a 'thank you' to her and she nodded back with a smile.

"You know, I think this year is going to be perfect." Kairi's voice rang out above all the others. I felt Roxas tense, and I knew exactly why because that word left a bad taste in my mouth as well.

"Nah, perfection is overrated." All eyes were on me as soon as I spoke. I wrapped one arm around Roxas's shoulders and the other around Zexion's and pulled them both close to me. "Besides, what we have here is so much better than that."

"And what is that?" Zexion laughed.

I took that moment to cast one more glance around the room, taking in all of the sights and sounds. I watched as the last bits of shiny confetti floated down lazily, landing in slippery piles around feet clad in expensive shoes. I watched as people celebrated the beginning of a brand new year together. The laughter and shouts, the hugs, the smiles, I soaked it all up. I let everything fill my senses.

I allowed memories, the good and the bad, to take over my mind. From the first time I could ever remember hearing a harsh word leave my father's mouth to the day I left it all behind. From the moment I laid eyes on the one person I didn't know would change my life and everything we'd experienced since. I let the memories play out like a movie in my mind.

I let my eyes fall upon each of my friends—one by one—all of whom had played an integral part in my existence. They were all very important pieces that made up the very complicated puzzle of my life.

From Zexion who had been my pillar of strength and one true friend for so long to Kairi and Riku who taught me that looks and outside appearances can be deceiving. I looked to Sora who, through his eternal kindness and child-like innocence that remained despite everything, showed me that there's still a lot of good left in the world. I let my eyes fall upon Yuffie, whose lust for life and ability to make simple situations exciting, I envied. From Kadaj who was surprisingly normal but had a desire to make life interesting to Demyx who believed that there was good in everyone and taught me the powers of a perfectly decorated cupcake. I let my eyes rest on Cloud who proved to me that strength comes from the heart and that's the one source of power you can never count out. And there was Naminé, a beautiful person inside and out that I never bothered to notice, who taught me that jealousy never looks good on anyone and that amazing things really can come in the most unlikely packages.

Then there was the final piece. Roxas, with his impossibly blue eyes and golden blond hair, with his hypnotizing laughter and smiles that never failed to make my heart flutter. He was the one person in that room who had changed my life more than anyone or anything else ever could. He taught me more than I could ever put into words.

My life was one monotonous day after the other until he showed up and proved to me that it didn't have to be that way, that I could open myself up to love without having to be afraid. And yea, it might hurt sometimes, so badly that you might feel like you can't go on, but that doesn't mean you give up on it. And I know that I'm a better person for allowing myself to love and be loved in return.

Life is full of twists and turns and ups and downs, highs and lows, moments you never want to experience again and seconds you wish could last a lifetime. It can throw you curveballs when you least expect it and leave you cold and alone only pick you back up as if nothing bad had ever happened. The moment when you feel like all hope is gone could just very well be the moment when you find everything you've been looking for. The world is a crazy, beautiful, tragic, amazing place, and I'm just glad to be a part of it.

"Well," Zexion's voice broke me away from lingering thoughts. "What is it that we have that's so special?"

I looked down at Roxas who was smiling up at me and tightened my grip around his shoulders before I finally spoke up. "We have each other, and that's good enough for me."

Life is never perfect, but I wouldn't change it for a thing.

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**And finally it all comes to an end! I honestly can't believe how much time and hard work I've put into this story. After constantly writing and planning and thinking about it for a little over two months I think I'm going to feel kinda empty now that it's over lol. And I'm sure I've made countless mistakes, and there's probably a million and one ways that I could have written this story better, but all in all, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! It's still crazy to me how this all started out with one little idea I had about a cupcake shop and grew into so much more.**

**I really want to thank everyone for reading, favoriting and alerting this story. It blows my mind that so many people took an interest in it and I really appreciate everything. And, of course, a huge thank you to everyone who reviewed. I read every single one of them and your thoughts and opinions mean more to me than I can properly express.**

**:)**


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